SEC Whistleblower Blog
Court Confirms Individual Liability For Directors Under SOX and Dodd-Frank
October 27, 2015
On October 23, 2015, U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero of the U.S. District Court of Northern California ruled that former General Counsel of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. Sanford Wadler can proceed with his whistleblower retaliation case against the company and its board members, holding that Wadler’s internal reporting is...
SEC Continues Focus on Cybersecurity with Second Round of Examinations
October 2, 2015
On September 15, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced a second round of examinations into the security industry’s cybersecurity policies in its continued focus on the securities industry’s ability to protect the integrity of the market system and customer data from cyberattack. This examination...
SEC Fines Investment Firm for Inadequate Cybersecurity
October 1, 2015
On September 22, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) fined investment adviser R.T. Jones Capital Equities Management Inc. $75,000 for its lack of cybersecurity protections which contributed to a 2013 system hack that compromised the personal data of approximately 100,000 people. In addition to the fine,...
California Court Holds Dodd-Frank Only Protects SEC Whistleblowers
September 30, 2015
On September 8, 2015, the United States District Court for the Central District of California dismissed plaintiff Jennifer Davies’ whistleblower retaliation suit against her employer Broadcom Corp., holding that the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act (“the Act”) does not protect whistleblowers who report internally rather than to the U.S....
New Report Counsels Companies To Encourage Internal Whistleblowing
September 29, 2015
On September 28, 2015, The Network, a compliance and ethics software company, released a report detailing the motivations of potential whistleblowers and urged companies to cultivate a compliant, whistleblower-friendly environment. According to The Network’s statistics, 92% of whistleblowers report internally, which offers...
SEC Imposes $19M FCPA Sanction
September 29, 2015
On September 28, 2015, Hitachi Ltd., a Tokyo-based conglomerate, paid a $19 million sanction imposed on the company by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for its violation of federal securities laws under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The SEC alleges that the company unlawfully colluded with the...
Second Circuit’s Dodd-Frank Internal Reporting Decision Creates Circuit Split
September 11, 2015
On September 10, 2015, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that plaintiff Daniel Berman had stated a claim of unlawful retaliation under the whistleblower-protection provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act even though he alleged he was fired for reporting accounting fraud internally rather than to the U.S. Securities and...
Cybersecurity Front and Center in SEC’s Recent $100M Insider-Trading Enforcement Action
August 28, 2015
By Alexis H. Ronickher On August 13, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its first enforcement action involving cybersecurity. In SEC v. Dubovoy et al., the SEC charged 32 defendants for taking part in an insider-trading scheme. Over a five-year period of time, the hacker defendants hacked...
SEC Pushes for Amicus Brief to Clarify Dodd-Frank Internal Whistleblower Protection
August 11, 2015
In an unusual request to a trial court, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moved a California federal court on August 7th, 2015, to allow the commission to file an amicus brief on behalf of Sanford Wadler, previously in-house counsel for Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., who is suing his former employer for retaliation in...
SEC Pushes for Amicus Brief to Clarify Dodd-Frank Internal Whistleblower Protection
August 11, 2015
In an unusual request to a trial court, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moved a California federal court on August 7th, 2015, to allow the commission to file an amicus brief on behalf of Sanford Wadler, previously in-house counsel for Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., who is suing his former employer for retaliation in...
