2016 ABA White Collar Crime Conference - DAG Sally Q. Yates

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates was the luncheon speaker at the ABA White Collar Crime Conference. It was a Q and A format, and as one might suspect, the Yates Memo was a key topic - although she preferred not to call it the Yates Memo.

She started by saying that as long as a company acts in good faith, they can still get cooperation credit even if they can't designate a particular culprit.  She stated that they are not requesting a waiver of privilege. She said, "we want the facts." As a matter of fact, she said this several times in answer to questions asked.

She was unable to say whether companies were not disclosing because of this new policy. But she did say that a company would get more credit if they voluntarily disclosed than if there was an investigation and they then disclosed.  She noted that its a question of how quickly you cooperate.  She also spoke about the civil side of investigations - again with an eye toward looking at the individuals. She also spoke about the training conference to educate on this policy.

My takeaway - it's all about throwing the individual under the bus, even if you can't name the specific individual.

(esp)