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
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
On September 25, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit clarified what a whistleblower plaintiff must allege to demonstrate they had a “reasonable belief” that their employer violated the...more
On June 7, 2022, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, relying on recent ARB decisions, held that a plaintiff who lived and worked for a Canadian subsidiary of a US company could not avail...more
Now, nearly 20 years after Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the congressional mandate to promulgate and enforce rules for corporate attorneys has gone largely unfulfilled. But all that may change. A recent speech by...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
Bernie Madoff died yesterday. I cannot think of one person who embodied so many of the things that the compliance profession stands against than Madoff. From fraud, to lying, to ruining lives and about everything in between;...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
What are some best practices regarding an internal reporting system? The 2012 FCPA Guidance stated, “An effective compliance program should include a mechanism for an organization’s employees and others to report suspected or...more
Public company directors, who are under constant threat of claims, received welcome news earlier this month. On December 9, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that corporate directors...more
On October 31, 2019, the ARB held that an employee who merely “hints” that he or she intends to file a whistleblower complaint has not engaged in protected activity sufficient to invoke the whistleblower protection provision...more
Congress is poised to overturn two recent judicial interpretations of the whistleblower protections of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank). On Sept. 23, 2019, the Whistleblower...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The DOL’s ARB rejected an employee’s SOX retaliation claim where he inadvertently provided information to his employer and only “hinted” that he was filing a SOX-protected complaint. The ARB seems unwilling...more
Focus On Whistleblower Protections - Avoiding and Defending Whistleblower Claims - Defending Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank whistleblower claims can be costly and complicated. It can be challenging, for example, for a...more
In Wallace v. Andeavor Corp., the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment to an employer on a former vice president’s Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) whistleblower claim...more
On February 26, 2019, the Ninth Circuit affirmed much of a jury’s approximately $11M verdict finding that a former general counsel was discharged in retaliation for reporting alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”)...more
On February 15, 2019, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the grant of summary judgment in favor of Andeavor Corporation f/k/a Tesoro Corporation on a SOX whistleblower claim, concluding that the plaintiff lacked an objectively...more
I recently interviewed Dr. Kyle Welch, Assistant Professor at George Washington University (GWU), on his recently released paper, co-authored with Stephen Stubben, Associate Professor from The University of Utah, entitled...more
I have long articulated that companies that have robust compliance programs are more efficient, better run and more profitable organizations. ...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: New...more
The U.S. Supreme Court closed out its most recent term, which began in October 2017, with a number of high-profile and ground-breaking decisions. ...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: Only...more
ANTICORRUPTION DEVELOPMENTS – U.S. Agencies Decline to Prosecute Teradata for Alleged FCPA Violations – On February 26, 2018, Teradata Corporation, an Ohio-based enterprise software database management company,...more
On February 21, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in the closely watched whistleblower case Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v Somers. In a unanimous ruling, the Court stated that whistleblowers must report any wrongdoing...more
Resolving a Circuit split, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held last week that an employee must report a securities violation to the Securities and Exchange Commission if he wishes to avail himself of the...more