All Whistleblowers articles – Page 2

  • Blog

    Former SEC Whistleblower Chief McKessy lands at law firm

    2016-09-06T10:00:00Z

    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.

  • Blog

    SEC's $22 million award to whistleblower pushes program's total over $100 million

    2016-08-30T17:30:00Z

    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.

  • Blog

    Hybrid group of professional whistleblowers and insiders on cusp of huge awards

    2016-08-10T10:30:00Z

    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.

  • Whistle_0
    Blog

    SEC’s whistleblower office on winning roll

    2016-05-17T14:30:00Z

    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 ...

  • Blog

    After rejection, SEC whistleblower's persistence leads to $3.5 million award

    2016-05-14T15:00:00Z

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

  • Article

    Longer case closure times boost risk of whistleblowers reporting externally

    2016-04-05T13:45:00Z

    Employers are taking longer and longer to act on internal whistleblower reports, which can frustrate employees who have been encouraged to step up and report what they see as unacceptable behavior. As reporters find their concerns languishing in limbo, the chances they might simply take their issue to an outside ...

  • Blog

    SEC awards nearly $2 million in latest blockbuster whistleblower payout

    2016-03-09T11:00:00Z

    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.

  • Blog

    SEC Awards $700,000 to Whistleblower Who Was Company Outsider

    2016-01-19T13:45:00Z

    Image: 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 ...

  • Article

    FCPA Enforcement Trends to Watch in 2016

    2016-01-05T12:00:00Z

    Image: A recalibrated focus by the government on individual culpability, expanding cross-border cooperation and prosecutions, and hordes of new whistleblower complaints are just a few upcoming enforcement trends that are expected to elicit some big compliance headaches in 2016. “The FCPA Unit, it seems to us, is working as hard ...

  • Article

    It’s Time to Stop Thinking of Whistleblowers as “Nut Jobs”

    2015-12-29T17:00:00Z

    A recent comment about whistleblowers largely being crank cases has raised the ugly notion that those who report wrongdoing are more often venting a personal grudge or prosecuting a baseless case, than actually raising a legitimate issue. But in this age of heightened governance concern, can such a cavalier attitude ...

  • Blog

    Two Courts—Two Decisions on Whistleblower Protections

    2015-12-21T08:45:00Z

    Image: A recent court ruling found that employees who reported suspected illegal conduct to their employers rather than to the SEC are entitled to the Dodd-Frank Act anti-retaliation protections. The decision, however, conflicts with a prior court decision, where the court refused to give weight to the SEC’s interpretation of ...

  • Article

    Latest Review of False Claims Act Compliance

    2015-11-10T12:45:00Z

    Image: The Justice Department has settled a spate of False Claims Act cases with healthcare providers this fall, pointing to several important trends in FCA cases: increased scrutiny on physician payment arrangements, the broadening scope of whistleblowers, and an upsurge in FCA settlement amounts. “Enforcement agencies are aggressively using all ...

  • Article

    When a Board Member Goes Bad

    2015-10-27T15:15:00Z

    Image: Investigations into rumors of misconduct are part of a compliance officer’s job. Seldom, however, is the task as delicate as when investigating a board member. “You need to think about making decisions knowing that the facts may end up completely different, once it is all done,” Adam Frankel, general ...

  • Blog

    Court: Whistleblowers Protected, SEC Reporting or Not

    2015-09-10T15:30:00Z

    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 ...

  • Article

    The Current State of SEC Whistleblower Guidance

    2015-08-18T10:30:00Z

    The SEC’s latest guidance on whistleblower protection, confirming that employees need not report misconduct first to the SEC to win anti-retaliation protections, seems at first glance to be good news for internal compliance programs. For corporations as a whole, less so. Inside, we take a deeper look at the limits ...

  • Article

    Whistleblower Laws Abroad Remain Weak and Untested

    2015-04-28T09:15:00Z

    Image: What whistleblower protections exist overseas that are comparable to those under the Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank Acts? Compliance Week did a spot-check of major countries, and the results of our round-the-world tour are inside. “There’s no country in the world whose whistleblower protection laws come close to what we’ve developed ...

  • Article

    Monitoring Your Anti-Retaliation Program

    2015-04-07T09:45:00Z

    Complaints of whistleblower retaliation are a persistent problem in Corporate America, and all the more irritating for companies that may believe they have solid anti-retaliation programs in place. Inside, we walk through the harder part of anti-retaliation efforts: not just creating the policy, but working with HR and line managers ...

  • Blog

    SEC Brings First Action on Whistleblower ‘Pre-taliation’

    2015-04-01T16:30:00Z

    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.

  • Article

    The Latest State of Affairs on Whistleblower Claims

    2015-03-31T09:30:00Z

    Image: A final rule from OSHA has smoothed the path for employees to file whistleblower retaliation claims under the Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank acts and put companies in a more difficult spot to defend themselves. “The final rule reinforces that these types of anti-retaliation provisions are here to stay,” says Daniel ...

  • Article

    More Cooperation, More Whistleblowing, More Prosecution

    2015-01-06T10:00:00Z

    Image: Title: Berland2015 may be the year when overseas regulators hit their stride in prosecuting companies for misconduct, as tactics get more sophisticated and investigations come to fruition. In the United States, enforcement stemming from whistleblowers will be at full speed and pressure to cooperate with prosecutors will be high. ...