On September 9, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced settled charges against seven public companies for violations of certain whistleblower protections provided by Rule 21F-17 under the Securities...more
On August 25, the SEC announced a whistleblower award of $18 million to a whistleblower who provided new information and assistance that led to a successful SEC enforcement action. According to the redacted order, the...more
Summary - Section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) governs the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC or the Commission) whistleblower program, which pays awards to eligible whistleblowers...more
On February 10, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to Exchange Act Rules 21F-3 and 6, which govern the implementation of its whistleblower program. These amendments increase the SEC’s...more
On February 10, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed two amendments to the rules governing its whistleblower program, Exchange Act Rules 21F-3 and 6. “These amendments, if adopted, would help ensure that...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“Commission” or “SEC”) whistleblower program has, by all accounts, been a huge success. Added to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) as Section 21F by the...more
On September 23, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in a 3-2 vote, approved several significant amendments to, and interpretive guidance on, the rules governing its whistleblower program. Most...more
On June 3, 2019, the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower announced a $3 million award to two whistleblowers who provided the SEC with information that led it to investigate and successfully bring an enforcement action for...more
The SEC’s most recent whistleblower awards highlight the importance of internal reporting to a company’s compliance program and especially how a company investigates and responds to such reports. On May 24, 2019, the SEC...more
On June 3, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced a joint award of $3 million to two whistleblowers who the SEC stated provided information that led to a successful enforcement action aimed at...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently awarded $3 million to joint whistleblowers despite concluding that the whistleblowers did not satisfy the technical eligibility requirements for receiving an award. See...more
On November 30, 2017, the SEC Office of the Whistleblower issued a bounty award of more than $16 million to two tipsters; each received an award of more than $8 million. The SEC denied awards to five other claimants....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission released an Order Determining Whistleblower Award Claim holding that the whistleblower’s award should be reduced to 20% of the monetary sanctions collected...more
Risk Alert (literally)! Standard provisions in employment agreements, severance agreements and policies may run afoul of the SEC’s whistleblower regulations. In the wake of several highly publicized enforcement actions by the...more
SEC Brings First Stand-Alone Whistleblower Retaliation Enforcement Action - On September 29, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought its first stand-alone whistleblower retaliation case under...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission is aggressively interpreting and enforcing its rule against impeding whistleblowers. Rule 21F-17(a) provides...more
The SEC has fined an Atlanta company $265,000 for using various severance agreements restricting whistleblower activities. The Dodd-Frank Act added ’34 Act § 21F encouraging whistleblower programs....more
On August 10, 2016, the SEC announced that BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (Company) is settling charges that it violated Rule 21F-17 by requiring outgoing employees to waive whistleblower bounty awards in connection with severance...more
Wednesday, the SEC announced that an Atlanta-based company, BlueLinx Holdings, is settling charges that its severance agreements contained provisions that in its view might impede employees from communicating directly with...more
On March 8, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order awarding a trio of whistleblowers a bounty of almost $2 million. One whistleblower will receive the lion’s share of the bounty — $1.8 million —...more
The SEC announced a whistleblower award totaling more than $325,000 for a former investment firm employee who tipped the agency with specific information that enabled enforcement staff to open an investigation and uncover the...more
On September 9, 2015, Sean McKessy, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower (OWB) spoke at Thomson Reuters’ 4th Annual Corporate Whistleblower Program in New York. With the standard disclaimer that his comments and...more
On Friday, July 17, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it will award more than $3 million to a company insider who helped the SEC “crack a complex fraud.”...more
On June 3, 2014, the SEC issued an order that awarded two whistleblowers $437,500 each pursuant to Rule 21F of the Securities Exchange Act. This Order marks the SEC’s first award of 2014, and eighth award since the program...more