US progressive groups ask DOJ to reverse new M&A safe harbor policy
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland gives a brief statement at the Justice Department in Washington, U.S., August 11, 2023. REUTERS/Bonnie Cash/File Photo
Demand Progress, Public Citizen and 12 other progressive non-profit organizations and lobbying groups want Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco to reverse the policy designed to coax companies to disclose misconduct they uncover during mergers and acquisitions, according to a letter sent on Friday.
Monaco said this month that under the new safe harbor policy that U.S. prosecutors will not target firms that report misconduct they find within six months of acquiring a new company. Senator Elizabeth Warren has also criticized the policy. That puts the Biden administration's second year of corporate enforcement on par with the second year of the Trump administration's - the fifth-lowest corporate prosecutions on record. The previous year, 2021, saw a record low, the report said.