The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division is giving a whistleblower reward for the first time, gifting $1 million to a person who helped lead federal authorities to a criminal antitrust and fraud scheme of used car auctions.
The award, in conjunction with the U.S. Postal Service, comes under the Antitrust Division’s whistleblower rewards program.
If a whistleblower provides new information that assists the division in bringing charges, the person might receive a significant award — even if the criminal activity has already ended, the DOJ’s press release said.
“Whistleblowers serve as the Justice System’s greatest disinfectant against criminal antitrust conspiracies,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi said. “This $1 million reward not only recognizes a whistleblower for bravely stepping forward to report crimes to the Antitrust Division, but also underscores the indispensable role whistleblowers will continue to play in the Division’s criminal enforcement program.”
The whistleblower’s tip led the DOJ onto EBlock, a company that runs an online marketplace for buying and selling used cars. Under the deferred prosecution agreement, it will pay a $3.28 million criminal fine, avoiding immediate criminal charges.
EBlock acquired what the DOJ called Company A, another online auction platform for used vehicles, in November 2020, but did not immediately end the bid-rigging conspiracy and fraud at Company A, according to the DOJ.
From Company A’s acquisition until February 2022, employees conspired with those at another unnamed outfit, Company B, to subdue competition by sharing bidding information, resulting in fake bids to artificially increase prices.
“A car is the second largest purchase most Americans will make in their lifetimes. This whistleblower helped expose a brazen $16 million scheme that made it more expensive for hardworking Americans to afford second-hand cars across the country,” Mr. Assefi said.
The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case — documents relating to the scheme were sent by mail — and attorneys from the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal Section are prosecuting.
The Antitrust Division works with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General to pay rewards, which may range from 15% to 30% of money collected when tips lead to at least $1 million in fines or recoveries, the DOJ said.
Whistleblowers have long been rewarded by federal programs for reporting certain white-collar crimes, but the Justice Department announced a new system in July to reward individuals who report criminal antitrust violations.
