U.S. Lawmakers Want to Pay Up to $5 Million For Foreign Corruption Tips

Representatives Stephen Lynch (D-MA) and Republican Keith Rothfus (R-PA) have introduced the  Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Act, a bill that would authorize the Department of the Treasury to provide asylum and reward whistleblowers who report information about stolen assets that are hidden in the U.S.  Treasury would be authorized to pay up to $5 million to an individual and $25 million annually across the program, using assets seized by the federal government.

“In the last 15 years, only about $5 billion in corrupt assets has been repatriated. That is out of an estimated $20-40 billion that is lost annually due to corruption,” Lynch remarked statement. “The goal of this proposed rewards program is to recover and return more of these funds to the people of the countries from which the funds were stolen.”