Deferred Prosecution Agreements, Nonprosecution Agreements, and Corporate Integrity Agreements

Companies—especially publicly traded companies—do not want to go to trial in criminal cases. In fact, they do not want to be indicted at all. Indictment, let alone trial, can have serious consequences. With the dramatic increase in corporate criminal prosecutions over the last two decades, a fourth option has emerged in the corporate criminal arena: deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) and nonprosecution agreements (NPAs), which are alternatives to the traditional “guilty” or “not guilty” approach that the law has generally taken to charged crimes. Collectively, these agreements are known as corporate pretrial diversion agreements. Whether the government elects to use one of these agreements depends on multiple factors.