II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5252 

To amend title 18, United States Code to require accountability in deferred 

prosecution agreements, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 

Mr. WELCH (for himself and Mr. HAWLEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code to require accountability in deferred prosecution agreements, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hold Corporate Crimi5 nals Accountable Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY IN DEFERRED PROSECUTION 

7 AGREEMENTS. 

8 Section 3161(h)(2) of title 18, United States Code, 

9 is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘Any’’ and inserting ‘‘(A) Any’’; 

2 and 

3 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(B)(i) If the defendant described in subpara5 graph (A) is a person other than an individual, the 

6 court may not approve an agreement described in 

7 that subparagraph unless the court determines that 

8 the agreement is in the public interest. 

9 ‘‘(ii) In determining whether to approve an 

10 agreement under clause (i), the court shall consider 

11 the following factors: 

12 ‘‘(I) The reasonableness of punitive meas13 ures, including financial penalties. 

14 ‘‘(II) Compliance terms or safeguards 

15 within the agreement. 

16 ‘‘(III) Effective independent monitoring of 

17 agreement terms to ensure compliance by the 

18 defendant. 

19 ‘‘(IV) Cooperation of the defendant with 

20 law enforcement, including identifying culpable 

21 individuals related to the conduct at issue. 

22 ‘‘(V) The underlying goals of the sub23 stantive law violation and whether the agree24 ments contains terms unreleated to those goals. 


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1 ‘‘(VI) Collateral consequences related to 

2 the agreement. 

3 ‘‘(VII) The impact of the offense on the 

4 public, including victims of the offense. 

5 ‘‘(VIII) The effects of the agreement on 

6 the regulatory scheme. 

7 ‘‘(IX) The effects of the agreement on ap8 plicable statutes of limitations and other time9 related interests. 

10 ‘‘(X) The appropriateness of any restitu11 tion. 

12 ‘‘(XI) The adequacy and specificity of pub13 lic admissions regarding the conduct at issue. 

14 ‘‘(XII) Prior criminal investigations and 

15 prosecutions of the defendant. 

16 ‘‘(XIII) Any other compelling reasons to 

17 affirm or reject the agreement.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. EMPIRICALLY BASED COMPLIANCE MONITORING. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any person other than an indi20 vidual who is placed on probation or enters into a deferred 

21 prosecution agreement that contains a condition of compli22 ance monitoring shall employ independent monitoring that 

23 uses objective and methodologically sound metrics. 

24 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

25 of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall pubVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:09 Oct 11, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5252.IS S5252

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1 lish a report on efforts by the Department of Justice to 

2 identify guidelines and increase the use of compliance 

3 monitoring described in subsection (a) through criminal 

4 prosecutions. 

5 SEC. 4. TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS ON FEDERAL 

6 AGENCIES TO ENTER INTO DEFERRED PROS7 ECUTION AGREEMENTS. 

8 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR SETTLEMENT AGREE9 MENTS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 3 of title 5, United 

11 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘§ 307. Information regarding settlement agreements 

14 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘covered 

15 settlement agreement’ means a settlement agreement (in16 cluding deferred prosecution agreements and nonprosecu17 tion agreements) that is entered into by an Executive 

18 agency that— 

19 ‘‘(1) relates to an alleged violation of Federal 

20 civil or criminal law; 

21 ‘‘(2) involves an agreement to defer prosecution 

22 or withhold prosecution of the alleged violation; and 

23 ‘‘(3) requires the payment of a total of not less 

24 than $1,000,000 by 1 or more non-Federal persons. 

25 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION TO BE POSTED ONLINE.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara3 graph (B), the head of each Executive agency 

4 shall make publicly available in a searchable 

5 format in a prominent location on the website 

6 of the Executive agency— 

7 ‘‘(i) a list of each covered settlement 

8 agreement entered into by the Executive 

9 agency, which shall include, for each cov10 ered settlement agreement— 

11 ‘‘(I) the date on which the par12 ties entered into the covered settle13 ment agreement; 

14 ‘‘(II) the names of the parties 

15 that settled claims under the covered 

16 settlement agreement; 

17 ‘‘(III) a description of the claims 

18 each party settled under the covered 

19 settlement agreement; 

20 ‘‘(IV) the amount each party set21 tling a claim under the covered settle22 ment agreement is obligated to pay 

23 under the settlement agreement; 


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1 ‘‘(V) the total amount the set2 tling parties are obligated to pay 

3 under the settlement agreement; 

4 ‘‘(VI) for each settling party— 

5 ‘‘(aa) the amount, if any, 

6 the settling party is obligated to 

7 pay that is expressly specified 

8 under the covered settlement 

9 agreement as a civil or criminal 

10 penalty or fine; and 

11 ‘‘(bb) the amount, if any, 

12 that is expressly specified under 

13 the covered settlement agreement 

14 as not deductible for purposes of 

15 the Internal Revenue Code of 

16 1986; and 

17 ‘‘(VII) a description of where 

18 amounts collected under the covered 

19 settlement agreement will be depos20 ited, including, if applicable, the de21 posit of such amounts in an account 

22 available for use for 1 or more pro23 grams of the Federal Government; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) a copy of each covered settlement 

2 agreement entered into by the Executive 

3 agency. 

4 ‘‘(B) CONFIDENTIALITY PROVISIONS.—The 

5 requirement to disclose information or a copy of 

6 a covered settlement agreement under subpara7 graph (A) shall apply to the extent that the in8 formation or copy (or portion thereof) is not 

9 subject to a confidentiality provision that pro10 hibits disclosure of the information or copy (or 

11 portion thereof). 

12 ‘‘(2) PERIOD.—The head of each Executive 

13 agency shall ensure that— 

14 ‘‘(A) information regarding a covered set15 tlement agreement is publicly available on the 

16 list described in paragraph (1)(A)(i) for a pe17 riod of not less than 5 years, beginning on the 

18 date of the covered settlement agreement; and 

19 ‘‘(B) a copy of a covered settlement agree20 ment made available under paragraph (1)(A)(ii) 

21 is publicly available— 

22 ‘‘(i) for a period of not less than 5 

23 years, beginning on the date of the covered 

24 settlement agreement; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) for a covered settlement agree2 ment under which a non-Federal person is 

3 required to pay not less than $50,000,000, 

4 for a period of not less than 10 years, be5 ginning on the date of the covered settle6 ment agreement. 

7 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC STATEMENT.—If the head of an Execu8 tive agency determines that a confidentiality provision in 

9 a covered settlement agreement, or the sealing of a covered 

10 settlement agreement, is required to protect the public in11 terest of the United States, the head of the Executive 

12 agency shall issue a public statement stating why such ac13 tion is required to protect the public interest of the United 

14 States, which shall explain— 

15 ‘‘(1) what interests confidentiality protects; and 

16 ‘‘(2) why the interests protected by confiden17 tiality outweigh the public’s interest in knowing 

18 about the conduct of the Federal Government and 

19 the expenditure of Federal resources. 

20 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS FOR WRITTEN PUBLIC STATE21 MENTS.—Any written public statement issued by an Exec22 utive agency that refers to an amount to be paid by a 

23 non-Federal person under a covered settlement agreement 

24 shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) specify which portion, if any, of the 

2 amount to be paid under the covered settlement 

3 agreement by a non-Federal person— 

4 ‘‘(A) is expressly specified under the cov5 ered settlement agreement as a civil or criminal 

6 penalty or fine to be paid for a violation of Fed7 eral law; or 

8 ‘‘(B) is expressly specified under the cov9 ered settlement agreement as not deductible for 

10 purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; 

11 ‘‘(2) if no portion of the amount to be paid 

12 under the covered settlement agreement by a non13 Federal person is expressly specified under the cov14 ered settlement agreement as a civil or criminal pen15 alty or fine, include a statement specifying that is 

16 the case; and 

17 ‘‘(3) describe in detail— 

18 ‘‘(A) any actions the non-Federal person 

19 shall take under the covered settlement agree20 ment in lieu of payment to the Federal Govern21 ment or a State or local government; and 

22 ‘‘(B) any payments or compensation the 

23 non-Federal person shall make to other non24 Federal persons under the covered settlement 

25 agreement. 


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1 ‘‘(e) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The requirement to dis2 close information under subsection (d) shall apply to the 

3 extent that the information to be disclosed (or portion 

4 thereof) is not subject to a confidentiality provision that 

5 prohibits disclosure of the information (or portion there6 of). 

7 ‘‘(f) REPORTING.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 31 

9 of each year, the head of an Executive agency that 

10 entered into a covered settlement agreement during 

11 the previous calendar year shall submit to each com12 mittee of Congress with jurisdiction over the activi13 ties of the Executive agency a report indicating— 

14 ‘‘(A) how many covered settlement agree15 ments the Executive agency entered into during 

16 that previous calendar year; 

17 ‘‘(B) how many covered settlement agree18 ments the Executive agency entered into during 

19 that previous calendar year that had any terms 

20 or conditions that are required to be kept con21 fidential; 

22 ‘‘(C) how many covered settlement agree23 ments the Executive agency entered into during 

24 that previous calendar year for which all terms 


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1 and conditions are required to be kept confiden2 tial; 

3 ‘‘(D) the total amount of attorney fees, 

4 costs, and expenses paid to non-Federal persons 

5 under settlement agreements (including consent 

6 decrees) of the Executive agency during that 

7 previous calendar year; and 

8 ‘‘(E) the number of settlement agreements 

9 (including consent decrees) between the Execu10 tive agency and non-Federal persons that in11 volve regulatory action or regulatory changes, 

12 including the promulgation of new rules, during 

13 that previous calendar year. 

14 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS.—The head of 

15 an Executive agency that is required to submit a re16 port under paragraph (1) shall make the report pub17 licly available in a searchable format in a prominent 

18 location on the Web site of the Executive agency.’’. 

19 (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND20 MENT.—The table of sections for chapter 3 of title 

21 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

22 end the following: 

‘‘307. Information regarding settlement agreements.’’. 

23 (b) REVIEW OF CONFIDENTIALITY OF SETTLEMENT

24 AGREEMENTS.—Not later than 6 months after the date 

25 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 


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1 United States shall submit to Congress a report regarding 

2 how Executive agencies (as defined under section 105 of 

3 title 5, United States Code) determine whether the terms 

4 of a settlement agreement or the existence of a settlement 

5 agreement will be treated as confidential, which shall in6 clude recommendations, if any, for legislative or adminis7 trative action to increase the transparency of Government 

8 settlements while continuing to protect the legitimate in9 terests that confidentiality provisions serve. 

10 SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR CER11 TAIN CRIMES. 

12 Section 3282 of title 18, United States Code, is 

13 amended by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(c) FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.—Except as other15 wise expressly provided by law, no person other than an 

16 individual shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any 

17 offense involving a financial institution, corporation, or a 

18 subsidiary of a financial institution or corporation unless 

19 the indictment is found or the information is instituted 

20 within 10 years next after such offense shall have been 

21 committed.’’. 

22 SEC. 6. INVESTIGATION OF FULLY CULPABLE INDIVIDUALS. 

23 Section 3553(e) of title 18, United States Code, is 

24 amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘Upon’’ and inserting the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon’’; and 

4 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(2) PROVIDING ASSISTANCE.—Any person 

6 other than an individual seeking a sentence below a 

7 level established by statute as a minimum sentence 

8 under this subsection shall provide assistance to the 

9 Government in identifying and fully investigating 

10 employees or former employees involved in the of11 fense.’’. 

Æ 


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