SEC Whistleblower Blog
SEC Issues $2 Million Award to Three Whistleblowers
March 8, 2016
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on March 8, 2016, that it would pay almost $2 million to three whistleblowers for information they provided that led to a successful enforcement action. The awards were issued as part of the SEC Whistleblower Program, which has now paid more than $57 million to...
How the SEC’s Whistleblower Rules Encourage Internal Reporting
March 2, 2016
Internal whistleblowing remains a fraught topic within the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the courts charged with interpreting the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. On the one hand, in an effort to assuage industry concerns that the whistleblower reward program would limit the ability for companies to independently cure...
In Yang, New York Court Dismisses Whistleblower Case Over Inability to Prove Causation
February 23, 2016
In September 2015, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals decided Berman v. Neo@Ogilvy LLC, holding that the Dodd-Frank Act protects whistleblowers who report securities violations to their employers. At the time Berman was decided, only the 5th Circuit had ruled on the question of whether a whistleblower who reported concerns to...
SEC Says You Don't Have to Be an Insider to Be a Whistleblower
February 9, 2016
In an apparent first for the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) whistleblower program, on Jan. 15, the SEC issued an award to an individual who was neither an employee nor a contractor of the company against whom the Commission leveled sanctions. The SEC stated in a press release that the $700,000 award...
Virginia Federal Court Enters Dodd-Frank Internal Whistleblower Fray
January 19, 2016
At Katz Banks Kumin, we frequently get phone calls from people who have experienced some variation on the following situation. An employee is working for a large company and has uncovered what she believes to be evidence of financial misconduct or fraud. She then reports her findings to a supervisor or someone in company...
Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Protections: What's in Store for 2016?
January 14, 2016
Federal courts in 2015 were frequently at odds regarding the correct interpretation of the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower protection provision. The dispute arises from an apparent conflict in the statutory language. On the one hand, the Dodd-Frank Act provides protection from retaliation for “whistleblowers,” a term defined in...
Cybersecurity Whistleblower Issues: Looking Back and Looking Ahead
January 7, 2016
Over the second half of 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began to demonstrate an increasing level of interest in cybersecurity issues, as lapses in companies’ security protections have exposed consumers to large-scale violations of personal data. In this post, we’ll take a look forward at the issues that...
SEC Whistleblower Program Delays: What You Need to Know
December 21, 2015
On Dec.10, an anonymous party filed an unusual petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. It was a petition for a writ of mandamus requesting that the court order the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to rule on an anonymous whistleblower’s (“Anonymous’s”) claim for an award under the Commission’s...
SEC Not Sympathetic to Delays in Reporting Dodd-Frank Violations
November 18, 2015
In a November 4, 2015 release from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), the Claims Review Staff publicly announced its decision that an undisclosed Claimant’s delay in reporting fraudulent activity to the SEC was unreasonable because the entirety of the delay took place after the implementation of the anti-...
SEC Director of Enforcement Speaks About SEC’s Enforcement Priorities
November 17, 2015
On November 2, 2015, Andrew Ceresney, Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Division of Enforcement, delivered a speech at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s Compliance and Legal Society New York Regional Seminar regarding the SEC’s enforcement strategies related to equity...
