Enforcement Action

The SEC has filed its first enforcement action against a company for what the agency has previously labeled “pre-taliation”—using confidentiality agreements or other agreements to potentially stifle the whistleblowing process. The company in question was KBR, which will pay $130,000 in penalties. See inside for more details.

It took over five years, but we finally have a success story in the “professional whistleblower” area. The SEC has awarded more than $700,000 to an industry expert (a company outsider) who conducted a detailed analysis that led to a successful SEC enforcement action. Sean McKessy, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, said the award “demonstrates the Commission’s commitment to awarding those who voluntarily provide independent analysis as well as independent knowledge of securities law violations to the agency.”

The SEC announced another blockbuster whistleblower award yesterday. The agency stated that it will pay nearly $2 million to three whistleblowers in a case -- including a payment of approximately $1.8 million to one of the three whistleblowers.

On Friday, the SEC announced its latest whistleblower award -- a sizable one that is noteworthy for at least three reasons.

The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower has been on a winning streak, which continued this week as it announced an award of between $5 million and $6 million to a former company insider whose tips uncovered hidden securities violations. The office has now awarded more than $67 million to 29 whistleblowers since it launched in 2011. Bruce Carton has more.

A new hybrid group of professional whistleblowers and corporate employees is about to get paid massive sums for their efforts to uncover securities law violations in the foreign exchange markets. Bruce Carton reports.

The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower has been cranking out major awards all summer—the latest an award of more than $22 million—which means, says Bruce Carton, the whistleblower program has surpassed $100 million.

Sean McKessy, the former first-ever chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, is joining law firm Phillips & Cohen as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office. Bruce Carton has more.

Yesterday, the SEC named Jane Norberg as the new Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. Norberg, previously the Acting Chief, fills the position left vacant when Sean McKessy left the agency this summer.

When whistleblowers tip off the government with information about corporate wrongdoing, the damage can be more costly than otherwise expected, according to a new study. Even before the SEC started offering rewards for actionable information, the assistance of one or more tipsters in an enforcement action increased penalties by an average of 30 percent and nearly doubled prison sentences. Details inside.

A federal appeals court has ruled that employees are covered by anti-retaliation protections for whistleblowers provided by the Dodd-Frank Act, even if they don’t file a report with the SEC. The ruling is a warning to businesses to tread carefully when handing out discipline to a suspected whistleblower, whether or not the SEC is involved. More inside.