PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Raising Capital 101: A Securities Podcast - What Makes it a Securities Offering?
All Things Investigations: Anchored in Fraud: Mike DeBernardis and Shayda Vance on Austal USA’s Scandal
The Legal Tightrope: Surviving Parallel Investigations
Navigating Government Contracts: Diana Shaw on Oversight and Whistleblower Protections
From Court to Code: Smart Contracts and Arbitration
Episode 335 -- The New DOJ Whistleblower Program
Navigating Emerging Privacy Issues in Financial Services — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Implications of the SEC Cybersecurity Disclosure Rule
Corruption, Crime and Compliance: SEC Suffers Dismissal of Claims in Solarwinds Securities Fraud Case
Episode 334 -- District Court Dismisses Bulk of SEC Claims Against Solarwinds
The Woody Report: The Solar Winds Dismissal
In That Case: Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy
Corruption, Crime and Compliance: Deep Dive into The SEC’s Settlement with R&R Donnelly on Cybersecurity Controls
Episode 332 -- Deep Dive into SEC’s Internal Controls and Cybersecurity Settlement with R&R Donnelly
The Justice Insiders Podcast: Jarkesy’s Implications for the Administrative State
DE Under 3: OFCCP Must Shut Down its Administrative Court Prosecutions as a Result of SCOTUS’ SEC Jury Trial Case Decision
Dogecoin’s Day in Court
Unpacking the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act: Implications for the Digital Asset Industry — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Podcast: Is Cryptocurrency a Security (like an orange grove)?
Navigating the Regulatory Waters: The SEC's Wells Notice to Uniswap and its Impact on DeFi — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
On August 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced its new “Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program” (“DOJ Program”), a three-year initiative managed by DOJ’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section....more
DOJ Launches Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program - On August 1, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the details of its new Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program. According to the DOJ, the...more
Whistleblower awards from regulatory agencies seldom make news in corporate compliance circles anymore, but two recent items from the world of whistleblower awards do deserve compliance officers’ attention. They’re a reminder...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Whistleblower Program was created in Section 922 of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which amended the Securities Exchange Act to include a whistleblower provision. It has since...more
Background - Under Section 922 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, Congress expanded protections for whistleblowers reporting possible violations of federal securities laws to the...more
On November 14, 2023 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its annual Office of the Whistleblower Report to Congress for fiscal year 2023 (October 1, 2022-September 30, 2023). This report highlighted several...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) just announced a settled enforcement matter involving a public company and its CFO. (AP File No. 3-21438) The case presents three important takeaways for companies and...more
In testimony before Congress earlier this year, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler reported that the SEC received 46,000 complaints, tips, and/or referrals in fiscal year 2021, which nearly...more
On February 10, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced two proposed amendments to its whistleblower program rules. As we previously reported, a closely divided SEC adopted a final rule implementing...more
2021 was another blockbuster year in the whistleblowing and retaliation arena. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Office of the Whistleblower has now issued in excess of $1 billion in whistleblower bounties. ...more
On November 15th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of the Whistleblower (OWB) released its 2021 Annual Report to Congress that reports staggering statistics for FY 2021 and should sound warning bells for...more
On June 28, 2021, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted the Company’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss after an executive claimed he was discharged in violation of the Dodd-Frank...more
On May 19, 2021, the SEC announced an award of more than $28 million to a whistleblower whose tip led the SEC and the DOJ to reach a combined $281 million FCPA settlement with a U.S.-based manufacturer of electronic systems...more
SEC Whistleblower Awards to 40 individuals in 2021 surpass total awards in fiscal year 2020. On March 29, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced an award of more than $500,000 to a whistleblower who...more
In 2021, whistleblowers will come into their own in ways previously unseen. While the United States has had whistleblower protections for two decades, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region are setting new standards in...more
A recent Bloomberg article reports that whistleblower complaints to the SEC have soared as employees have been working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the article, the SEC received 6,900 complaints in...more
Despite the program's success, there remains considerable room for public companies and SEC registrants to improve their internal reporting apparatus—to build cultures that encourage whistleblowers to report internally...more
This year is proving to be a record-setting year for whistleblowers. On October 22, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced it had awarded an unprecedented $114 million to a whistleblower who, the SEC says,...more
The highest award in the history of the SEC whistleblower program is issued to an employee who repeatedly reported misconduct internally before alerting the SEC. On October 22, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange...more
On October 22, 2020, the SEC announced an award of over $114 million to a whistleblower who, after reporting internally to their employer, provided the SEC with information and assistance that led to the successful...more
Companies should consider review of their compliance programs and procedures for addressing internal complaints or tips of potential misconduct. On September 23, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") adopted...more
On Wednesday, the SEC voted (by a vote of three to two) to adopt amendments to the rules related to its whistleblower program. The program provides for awards in an amount between 10% and 30% of the monetary sanctions...more
On July 16, 2020, the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a former IT analyst’s whistleblower retaliation claim, holding that he lacked an objectively reasonable belief that his complaints implicated one of the enumerated...more
In Houston, we have experienced energy companies laying off upwards of 30% of their workforce, both in the US and abroad. Employment separations can be one of the trickiest maneuvers to manage in the spectrum of the...more
Corporate leaders often talk to the talk when it comes to a Speak Up culture. In theory, many business leaders can articulate their commitment to a Speak Up culture by emphasizing the importance of employees raising...more