Rewards for Justice

Rewards for Justice is the United States government's standing informant-payment programme. The State Department runs it under 22 U.S.C. 2708, an authority added by the Act to Combat International Terrorism of 19 October 1984 and amended many times since, including through the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986. The statute places the programme with the Secretary of State; the Bureau of Diplomatic Security administers it day to day. The Bureau pays through intermediaries in order to keep an informant's identity off the public record.

22 U.S.C. 2708 reaches well past terrorism, to terrorist financing, serious violations of International humanitarian law, foreign election interference and transnational organised crime. Offers are published rather than kept quiet, because the programme works by advertising a price, and they run in bands, commonly up to $5m, $10m or $15m.

The State Department times a reward offer to land with a sanctions listing. A price posted beside a designation gives people inside a named network a reason to talk, and the department refreshes its live offers to track current enforcement priorities. It has done so repeatedly against Iranian financial targets through 2026.