CEP Magazine (December 2020)

A record payout to a foreign national by the United States whistleblower program may incentivize other foreign nationals to come forward and report wrongdoing.^[1] The payout of $36 million went to Koo Byoung-jin, a South Korean national who found that his business associates were price-rigging to defraud the US government.

The US whistleblower laws allow for payouts to foreign nationals if the financial crimes involve US companies or transactions that enter the US financial system. Since most dollar-denominated transactions flow through US banks in New York, transactions that occur in foreign nations could still fall under US jurisdiction. The US routinely uses the fact that the world banking system flows through New York to enforce money laundering and sanctions actions. The record payout demonstrates that the US False Claims Act covers offenses that occur outside of US borders.

1 Matt Smith, “Record Award Could Lure Foreign Whistleblowers,” Barron’s, September 23, 2020, https://bit.ly/3iYAmYV.

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