The SEC recently announced the settlement of multiple enforcement actions for violations of its whistleblower protection rule, which prohibits “any action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the...more
9/12/2024
/ Cease and Desist Orders ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Confidentiality Policies ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fines ,
Investment Adviser ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Separation Agreement ,
Settlement ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On August 6, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted an employer’s motion for summary judgment on a SOX whistleblower retaliation counterclaim, holding that the former employee failed to...more
On August 23, 2024, the SEC announced payment of more than $98 million in total to two whistleblowers who provided the SEC with information and assistance that led to successful enforcement actions by the SEC and another...more
On July 26, 2024, the SEC announced an award of more than $37 million to a whistleblower who first reported misconduct internally and subsequently provided information and assistance that led to a successful SEC enforcement...more
On March 7, 2024, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced that the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) is creating a pilot whistleblower rewards program, which will be developed and implemented over the next 90 days,...more
3/21/2024
/ CFTC ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
FEPA ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
New Regulations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
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
12/20/2023
/ CFTC ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Fraud ,
Medicare Billing Privileges ,
OSHA ,
Qui Tam ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Separation Agreement ,
United States ex rel Polansky v Executive Health Resources Inc ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) recently released its statutorily mandated 2023 Annual Report detailing the status of its whistleblower program for the fiscal year ending on September 20, 2023.
The...more
On September 25, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board’s rejection of an employee’s Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) retaliation claim, holding the...more
On September 19, 2023, the CFTC announced whistleblower awards totaling over $15 million to two whistleblowers who provided the CFTC with information that assisted the agency in bringing separate successful enforcement...more
A recent California district court addressed the question of whether, for insurance coverage purposes, a SOX whistleblower claim is a “securities claim,” and answered that question in the affirmative. Skye Bioscience v....more
On August 25, 2023, the SEC announced an award of more than $18 million to a whistleblower who first reported misconduct internally and subsequently provided information and assistance that led to a successful SEC enforcement...more
On August 4, 2023, the SEC announced payment of more than $104 million to seven whistleblowers who provided the SEC with information and assistance that led to successful enforcement actions by the SEC and another agency (the...more
On May 5, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on whistleblower retaliation claims, holding that the company demonstrated that it would...more
On April 19, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted the defendant-employer’s motion to dismiss a complaint seeking court enforcement of a preliminary reinstatement order after determining that...more
On May 5, 2023, the SEC announced an award of nearly $279 million to a whistleblower who provided the SEC with information and assistance that led to the successful enforcement of SEC and related actions. This enormous award...more
On February 28, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois granted a defendant-employer’s motion to dismiss a SOX whistleblower retaliation claim, holding that the plaintiff failed to adequately plead...more
On February 15, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio granted a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on SOX whistleblower retaliation claims, holding that the plaintiff failed to...more
OSHA’s new nationwide year-long pilot program that took effect on February 17, 2023, will aim to streamline the whistleblower complaint intake process.
OSHA, which administers over two dozen whistleblower statutes, has...more
As we previously reported, on February 13, 2020, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the Department of Labor (DOL) dismissed a former in-house attorney’s whistleblower claims because he worked entirely outside of the United...more
On January 4, the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a former bank executive’s whistleblower retaliation claims, holding that two procedural errors doomed his case: he sued before exhausting his administrative remedies;...more
On December 6, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on whistleblower retaliation claims brought under SOX and the Consumer Financial...more
2022 saw highly impactful whistleblower and retaliation events primarily resulting from an active U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, an aggressive approach taken by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and...more
1/4/2023
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
NEPA ,
OSHA ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Uber ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On December 7, 2022, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to expand whistleblower incentives and strengthen whistleblower protections by passing the Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Improvement Act.
The bill would...more
On August 26, 2022, the Third Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment in favor of an employer, holding that whistleblower retaliation protections in the False Claims Act did not protect an employee from being discharged...more
On November 15, 2022, the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower (OWB) released its annual report to Congress covering the period from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. The report highlights a record-breaking year for the...more