Compliance into the Weeds - SOX Compliance, PCAOB Inspections and Audits
Compliance into the Weeds-Episode 57-SOX Reform or Not?
Compliance into the Weeds-Episode 51, the PCAOB and Compliance
Compliance into the Weeds-Espiode 47
Everything Compliance-Episode 12
Day 5 of One Month to Better Investigations and Reporting-the Board’s Investigation Protocol
Compliance into the Weeds-Episode 30-SOX 404(b)
FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report-Episode 145-SEC Enforcement of the FCPA, Part II
On July 18, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed most of the claims brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) against SolarWinds Corp. and its Chief...more
As seen in the previous article, whistleblowing cases regularly make the news headlines. And while some of the names of the reporters or the cases are well known, it’s worthwhile to take a closer look at the people behind the...more
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, also referred to as SOX or as Sarbox, is a federal statute that requires specific corporate recordkeeping measures as well as financial reporting. It was passed in the aftermath of several huge...more
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“Act” or ”SOX”) shields whistleblowers from retaliation for reporting any wrongdoing by publicly traded companies. Recently, in Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC, the U.S. Supreme Court evaluated the...more
On February 8, 2024, the United States Supreme Court released a unanimous opinion confirming that a whistleblower does not need to show their employer’s actions were made with “retaliatory intent” to be protected under the...more
2023 was another groundbreaking year for whistleblower litigation and bounty awards. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shattered records by issuing a $279 million award and continued to actively enforce the...more
On October 30, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced that it filed charges against SolarWinds Corp. ("SolarWinds" or the "Company") and its Chief Information Security Officer ("CISO") in connection...more
Eleventh Circuit Adopts “Totality of the Circumstances” Test for Showing Protected Activity Under SOX and Denies Whistleblower Petition for Review - In Ronnie v. Office Depot, LLC, --- F.4th ----, 2023 WL 6210623 (11th Cir....more
In part one of this three-part blog series, we’re going back to the basics. In this article, we’ll answer the question: what is a whistleblowing hotline? A whistleblowing hotline is a channel that allows employees and others...more
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) protects employees of public corporations who report alleged financial misconduct from retaliation by their employers. Last week, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that an employee’s...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released an annual summary, on November 15, 2022, of actions brought by the Division of Enforcement (“Division”) over fiscal year 2022 (“Enforcement Summary”), providing an...more
On July 13, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that the whistleblower protections contained in Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) do not apply to employees who report potential...more
US Regulations including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Anti-Bribery legislation require that Management in a business have a zero tolerance for fraud and have an Audit Committee in place...more
The question of what constitutes insider trading has been litigated for decades. Many thought that a series of Supreme Court cases such as Dirks v. SEC, 462 U.S. 646 (1983) and its progeny had largely resolved the question...more
Managing fraud risk proactively is imperative. It is not only about protecting against financial losses commonly associated with fraud. It is also about surviving reputational risk. ...more
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) provides federal whistleblower protections against retaliation for employees of publicly held companies who complain about fraudulent activities. However, not all employee complaints are protected...more
According to a recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Blog entry (11/28/18), over 40% of internal frauds are discovered by whistleblowers and statistics show that 74% of whistleblowers are terminated. ...more
We live in a social media age where even foreign policy is announced via Twitter with ease and speed. But recent events serve as a reminder to public companies that the federal securities laws operate as an important...more
On March 21, 2017, the Northern District of Texas dismissed a former employee’s whistleblower retaliation claim on the ground that her allegations of fraud were too far removed from potentially harming the shareholders of a...more
An ALJ at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently ruled that a former CFO was entitled to approximately $1.9 million in back pay, front pay, and compensatory damages, concluding that he was retaliated against in violation...more
Yesterday I presented my views on why I believe that Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement will continue under the new administration. Today, I want to begin a multi-part series (sorry I don’t know how long it will...more
Managing fraud risk proactively is imperative in today’s transparent world. It is not only about protecting against financial losses commonly associated with fraud. It is also about surviving reputational risk. An example of...more
In Westawski v. Merck & Co., No. 14-cv-3239 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 18, 2016), the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted Defendant Merck & Co. (Company) summary judgment on Plaintiff Joni Westawski’s (Plaintiff) SOX whistleblower...more
The history of professional football in Houston is certainly star-crossed. After winning the first two American Football League (AFL) championships in 1960 and 1961, the Oilers never made it back to the big game. After the...more
This week I have been exploring the Public Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) with Joe Howell, an Executive Vice President (EVP) with Workiva Inc. We have considered how some of the issues addressed by the PCAOB directly...more