On November 3, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unanimously approved a set of proposed rules establishing a new bounty program implementing the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act).1 According to the SEC, the proposed rules reflect “the consideration of a number of potentially competing interests, and balance the need to encourage whistleblowers to come forward without promoting unintended consequences.”2

In this WSGR Alert, we outline the key provisions of the proposed rules. We also summarize the substance of the comment we intend to submit to the SEC stating the reasons why we believe the new rules do not strike an appropriate balance between incentivizing whistleblowers to report wrongdoing to the SEC and encouraging companies to maintain robust internal compliance programs.