Grassley, Leahy Reintroduce Legislation to Protect Whistleblowers in Criminal Antitrust Cases

“Violations of our antitrust laws hurt consumers, often in the form of less choice and higher prices. Without the help of industry whistleblowers, these sorts of violations often go on unchecked. This legislation encourages private sector employees to disclose such criminal violations by protecting them from retaliation in the workplace for coming forward with information. It also can be a real deterrent to those who are thinking about committing fraud in the future. We’ve seen how whistleblower protections can be a real incentive to helping root out waste, fraud and abuse. This can be another tool in the toolbox to stop individuals who are looking at criminal antitrust activities,” Grassley said.

“Whistleblowers play an essential role in alerting the public, Congress, and law enforcement agencies to wrongdoing that directly harms consumers. These individuals take significant risks in making disclosures and deserve protections. The Senate has now twice passed unanimously the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act to provide meaningful protection to those who blow the whistle on illegal behavior such as price fixing. I am proud to partner again with Senator Grassley, and I hope this year Congress will finally enact our bipartisan bill,” Leahy said.