Safeguarding Awards for Victims and Enforcement Settlements Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4691 To limit donations made pursuant to settlement agreements to which the United States is a party, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 Mr. LANKFORD (for himself, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. CORNYN, and Mr. INHOFE) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To limit donations made pursuant to settlement agreements to which the United States is a party, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safeguarding Awards 4 for Victims and Enforcement Settlements Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON DONATIONS MADE PURSUANT TO 6 SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS TO WHICH THE 7 UNITED STATES IS A PARTY. 8 (a) LIMITATION ON REQUIRED DONATIONS.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4691.IS S4691 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4691 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—An official or agent of the 1 Government may not enter into or enforce any set- 2 tlement agreement on behalf of the United States, 3 directing or providing for a payment or loan to any 4 person or entity other than the United States, other 5 than a payment or loan that— 6 (A) provides restitution for or is otherwise 7 intended to directly remedy actual harm (in- 8 cluding to the environment) directly caused by 9 the party making the payment or loan, and, to 10 the extent any victim thereof was an identifiable 11 person, suffered by the payee or lendee; or 12 (B) constitutes payment for services ren- 13 dered in connection with the case, including for 14 settlement or compliance monitoring or for di- 15 vestiture trustee services, or a payment pursu- 16 ant to section 3663 of title 18, United States 17 Code. 18 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—Nothing in this subsection 19 shall— 20 (A) prohibit the United States from par- 21 ticipating in a settlement through which claims 22 against one or more third parties are resolved 23 through payments to the same third parties; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4691.IS S4691 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4691 IS (B) limit any payment under section 1 110(l)(4)(A) of title 11, United States Code; 2 (C) prohibit the United States from par- 3 ticipating in a settlement agreement that, pur- 4 suant to a non-prosecution agreement, deferred 5 prosecution agreement, or plea agreement, pro- 6 vides for remedial training, establishment of a 7 compliance program, or enhancement of a com- 8 pliance program designed to remediate the al- 9 leged criminal violations identified in the settle- 10 ment, or avoid such violations in the future; 11 (D) proscribe or otherwise limit the man- 12 ner in which forfeited assets linked to foreign 13 corruption affecting the United States financial 14 system or assets recovered following the filing 15 of an asset forfeiture action to recover assets 16 linked to foreign corruption shall be returned 17 for the benefit of the people harmed by the cor- 18 ruption; 19 (E) prohibit the United States from par- 20 ticipating in a settlement or resolution with a 21 party in which the United States coordinates 22 with any other domestic or foreign civil, crimi- 23 nal, or regulatory authority to credit payments 24 the party makes to any other such authority so 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4691.IS S4691 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4691 IS as to avoid duplicative penalties, fines, for- 1 feiture, and disgorgement; or 2 (F) limit payments expressly authorized by 3 law. 4 (b) PROHIBITION ON CY-PRE`S REDISTRIBUTIONS IN 5 SETTLEMENTS.—Except as otherwise provided by law, 6 when the United States has entered into a settlement in- 7 volving a fund for payments to individual claimants, 8 amounts remaining after all claims on the settlement fund 9 have been satisfied shall be repaid proportionally to each 10 party who contributed to the settlement fund. 11 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsections (a) and (b) 12 apply only in the case of a settlement agreement concluded 13 on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 14 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 15 (1) PAYMENT.—The term ‘‘payment’’ means 16 any transfer of money, cash, or other consideration, 17 including constructive transfer in lieu of money. 18 (2) SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.—The term 19 ‘‘settlement agreement’’ means a settlement agree- 20 ment resolving a civil action or potential civil action, 21 participation in any pretrial diversion program, a 22 plea agreement, a deferred prosecution agreement, 23 or a non-prosecution agreement. 24 (e) REPORTS ON SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4691.IS S4691 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4691 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning at the end of the 1 first fiscal year that begins after the date of the en- 2 actment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 3 head of each Federal agency shall submit electroni- 4 cally to the Congressional Budget Office a report on 5 each settlement agreement entered into by that 6 agency (other than a settlement agreement for a qui 7 tam action or under section 586(a) of title 28, 8 United States Code) during that fiscal year that di- 9 rects or provides for a payment or loan to a person 10 or entity other than the United States that provides 11 restitution for or otherwise directly remedies actual 12 harm (including to the environment) directly caused 13 by the party making the payment or loan, or con- 14 stitutes payment for services rendered in connection 15 with the case, including the parties to each settle- 16 ment agreement, the source of the settlement funds, 17 and where and how such funds were and will be dis- 18 tributed. 19 (2) PROHIBITION ON ADDITIONAL FUNDING.— 20 No additional funds are authorized to be appro- 21 priated to carry out this subsection. 22 (3) SUNSET.—This subsection shall cease to be 23 effective on the date that is 7 years after the date 24 of the enactment of this Act. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4691.IS S4691 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4691 IS (f) ANNUAL AUDIT REQUIREMENT.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning at the end of the 2 first fiscal year that begins after the date of the en- 3 actment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the In- 4 spector General of each Federal agency shall submit 5 a report to the Committees on the Judiciary, on the 6 Budget and on Appropriations of the House of Rep- 7 resentatives and the Senate, on any settlement 8 agreement entered into in violation of this section by 9 that agency. 10 (2) PROHIBITION ON ADDITIONAL FUNDING.— 11 No additional funds are authorized to be appro- 12 priated to carry out this subsection. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4691.IS S4691 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS