Justice Muse

This week, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced the implementation of a Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (the “VSD Policy”).  The DOJ declared that U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the nation will offer benefits to companies that voluntarily and timely disclose misconduct.  Effective immediately, the VSD Policy details the parameters and criteria for voluntary self-disclosure of misconduct.  Under the VSD Policy, a company is considered to have made a voluntary self-disclosure if it is aware of misconduct prior to being publicly reported and timely discloses all relevant facts to a U.S. Attorney’s Office.  A company that meets this criteria and remediates the criminal conduct will experience significant benefits including the U.S. Attorney’s Office not seeking a guilty plea or imposing a criminal penalty. 

On February 17, 2023, the FTC brought its first civil enforcement action under the Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 310 (“TSR”), in nearly one year.  In U.S. v. Stratics Networks Inc., et al., which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, the FTC seeks to stop a group of companies and individuals that it claims are “responsible for delivering tens of millions of unwanted Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and ringless voicemail (RVM) phony debt service robocalls to consumers nationwide.”  Because the FTC is seeking civil penalties, the Complaint was filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FTC.