We’ve written about the government’s growing whistleblower initiatives before; they span many categories, including health care, cybersecurity, money laundering, and vehicle safety. But this latest initiative at the very least underscores the value of whistleblowers, showing their aid can prove valuable far beyond traditional arenas.
The Wildlife Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act, a bipartisan measure led by Rep. John Garamendi (D-California) and the late Rep. Dan Young (R-Alaska), with 85 co-sponsors, was reintroduced in November. It has not moved beyond committee, but the measure has come up repeatedly since 2018. Congress reconvenes Sept. 6.
As with many of these crimes, the big motivator is money. Many people don’t realize just how lucrative wildlife crime can be — and just how much financial harm it can cause to legitimate, law-abiding businesses.
The illegal timber industry is worth somewhere between $51 billion and $152 billion annually, illicit fishing is in the billions or tens of billions of dollars, and the trafficking of wildlife and wildlife products is valued at tens of billions of dollars, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
But beyond that, these unregulated actions can cause devastating ripple effects to the environment and to species, and protection laws are hard to enforce.
Keep in mind, decades-old laws do provide the potential for payouts to wildlife crime whistleblowers, but these payouts are discretionary and rarely awarded. The most effective whistleblower programs provide mandatory, meaningful payouts, and they offer protections.
The recent successes of other whistleblower programs with mandatory payouts have created some momentum. The proposed act would set whistleblower payouts between 10 percent and 30 percent of all recoveries, provided they total at least $100,000, with the final amount dependent upon the significance of the information, the helpfulness of the whistleblower, and the strategic significance of the situation to enforcement activities. The rest of the money would be redirected to wildlife conservation efforts.
While this furthers an interesting conversation, the program remains aspirational. In the meantime, many other whistleblower programs already in existence — such as those mentioned above — have succeeded in hampering crime by offering consistent awards and protections.
Keller Grover believes whistleblowers are vital players in meaningful, positive change, and we provide confidential, free consultations to advise those who have observed suspected wrongdoing. We can help you determine the best path forward from the very beginning, helping you minimize the impact of reporting, protect your rights and achieve the best possible outcome for your situation. Our deep experience litigating both fraud and employment law makes us uniquely skilled to represent whistleblowers.