Tag Archives: SEC
SEC to Use Whistleblower Tips in Merrill Lynch Lawsuit
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will take action against brokerage firm Merrill Lynch, claiming that an investment that declined by about 95 percent in value was marketed using techniques its financial advisors said were “borderline crooked.” The upcoming case centers on the risks of “structured notes,” which are securities that banks build out […]
Latest SEC Whistleblower Award Goes to 3 People
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to hand out large financial awards to whistleblowers under its program created by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. Any whistleblower tips that lead to enforcement action worth more than $1 million in monetary damages make whistleblowers eligible for a 10 to 30 percent cut of the collected […]
Whistleblower Compliance Officer Receives $1.4 Million Award from SEC
On April 22, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an award of between $1.4 million and $1.6 million given to a compliance officer who alerted authorities to wrongdoing within a large company. Because of confidentiality laws, the SEC was not able to reveal the name of either the whistleblower or the business. However, […]
Senate Approves Whistleblower Bill for the Auto Industry
The U.S. Senate passed the first-ever piece of whistleblower legislation specific to automotive safety April 28. The proposed measure provides incentives to whistleblowers within the auto industry to come forward about known safety issues. It was developed in the wake of the controversies surrounding Takata air bags and General Motors ignition switches over the last […]
SEC Launches Investigation into Employment Contracts that Prevent Whistleblowing
A February 25 article in the Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will begin investigating the kinds of agreements that certain companies make with their employees. The article states that the agency has already sent out several requests to different companies for years’ worth of employment contracts, nondisclosure agreements […]
SEC Whistleblower Investigation Leads to Concern Over Protecting Confidential Information
A recent article from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) began a formal inquiry into whether corporations are setting up their confidentiality agreements in ways that prevent their employees from reporting violations of securities law to the SEC. This article is just the most recent report of significant concerns […]
Two Whistleblower Cases Show Major Contrast of How Cases Can Result
A couple of recent whistleblower cases that have received national attention show the large divide that still exists in the way that these cases can progress. The first case saw the SEC award a whistleblower $400,000 for delivering information about his company’s wrongdoing that he had originally tried to report internally before being ignored by […]
Are More SEC Protections on the Way for Whistleblowers?
A pro-whistleblower coalition comprising organizations including the Government Accountability Project, the Project on Government Oversight and more is in the news for pressuring the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to improve its protections for employees that alert authorities to potential wrongdoing in their workplace. Members of the coalition are concerned about the clarity of the […]
