The US DoJ updates its leniency policy and issues a revised set of answers to frequently asked questions

Earlier this month, on the eve of the ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division rolled out significant updates to its Leniency Program, most readily discernible through an augmented, plain-language set of 82 Frequently Asked Questions, as well as the Division’s updated Leniency Policies and Procedures andModel Corporate Conditional Leniency Letter. The leniency program is widely-regarded as the crown-jewel in the Division’s cartel enforcement arsenal, with the carrot of full criminal immunity for a first-in cooperator motivating companies to race to the Division’s doorstep with incriminating evidence. However, participation in the program and U.S. criminal cartel enforcement generally has waned from a peak five to ten years ago. According to some defense