As discussed in our December 15, 2023 client alert, the SEC has waged an aggressive effort to enforce alleged violations of the whistleblower protection rule. On September 9, 2024, the SEC announced settled charges resulting...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) levied an $18 million fine against J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC (“JPMS”) for allegedly including overbroad release provisions in settlement agreements. This marks the continuation...more
On January 16, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a record $18 million sanction against JP Morgan for Rule 21F-17(a) violations, sending the strongest message yet that the SEC is cracking down on...more
Employers should check their confidentiality and severance agreements for a common oversight that, for some, is becoming a costly error. Recent enforcement activity by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Rule...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC or Commission) made clear in 2023 that it intends to aggressively enforce its whistleblower protection laws, namely Rule 21F-17, which prohibits employers from taking any action...more
Over the past several months, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has concluded several aggressive enforcement actions related to supposed violations of Rule 21F-17 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,...more
The SEC continues to review non-disclosure agreements and other confidential business information provisions of publicly traded companies to ensure whistleblowers are not restricted from freely communicating with the agency...more
In September, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced the settlement of three enforcement actions for violations of SEC whistleblower protection laws. In the actions, the SEC asserted that the...more
As the SEC closed its fiscal year, it filed three separate enforcement actions against companies for purported violations of Rule 21F-17 under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, which prohibits persons from impeding...more
On Friday, September 29, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued an order that censured D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P., a registered investment advisor in New York, and assessed a civil penalty of $10,000,000...more
On September 8, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it settled charges against Monolith Resources LLC, a privately held technology and energy company headquartered in Nebraska. The SEC’s...more
Public companies should be mindful not to interfere with or retaliate against whistleblowers, and stretching is best reserved for the yoga mat, not the numbers in a company's public disclosures. So says the U.S. Securities...more
Only a few months into the new year and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has begun to wade into new waters with enforcement efforts focused on disclosure issues without traditional links to securities...more
Under the Biden Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission has aggressively enforced its Whistleblower Program. As we previously reported here and here, the SEC has increased its focus on employers’ agreements or...more
The SEC announced on February 3, 2023 a settled enforcement action against Activision Blizzard, Inc., finding that it failed to have adequate controls for reporting widespread workplace misconduct to management and used...more
On February 3, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that video game developer Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Activision) agreed to pay $35 million to settle accusations that it violated whistleblower...more
Section 21F, titled "Whistleblower Incentives and Protection," is a set of provisions within the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that govern, among other things, the rights and obligations of SEC whistleblowers and the...more
Exchange Act Rule 21F-17, adopted in 2011 under the auspices of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, prohibits any person from taking any action to impede an individual from communicating...more
The SEC brought an enforcement action against The Brink’s Company for using confidentiality agreements that the SEC alleged violated Exchange Act Rule 21F-17. That rule prohibits any person from taking any action to impede an...more
On November 17, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that a company and its CEO violated Rule 21F-17 of the Exchange Act by entering into confidentiality agreements with investors that...more
On June 23, 2021, the SEC announced that Guggenheim Securities, LLC (“Company”) agreed to settle charges that it violated Rule 21F-17 by including language in its compliance manual and training materials that allegedly...more
The Situation: The SEC has brought another in a growing list of whistleblower cases critical of entities for potentially attempting to impede an individual from communicating with the agency. In July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall...more
In a recently settled SEC enforcement action, the defendant asked employees to sign an acknowledgement, upon hire and on an annual basis, that they had received, read, and would adhere to the defendant’s employee manual. ...more
Whistleblower Developments is a periodic report covering significant cases, decisions, proposals, and legislation related to whistleblower statutes and how they may impact your business. Recent developments include: ...more
As reported in Proskauer’s Labor Relations Update blog, the NLRB issued an important opinion on December 17, 2019 relating to employer rules requiring confidentiality from employees during workplace investigations. Apogee...more