On September 22, 2014 the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it would pay a Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) whistleblower award of $30 to $35 million to an anonymous foreign tipster. DFA authorizes awards of 10% to 30% of the SEC’s recovery if the tip leads to an SEC enforcement action with sanctions exceeding $1
Dodd-Frank
Does Dodd-Frank Act Protect Whistleblower Who Did Not Report to SEC?
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Whether a claimant qualifies as a whistleblower under the language of the Dodd-Frank Act when he does not complain directly to the SEC is the question the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis may attempt to answer.
Securities clearing and settlement firm COR Clearing LLC has appealed a Nebraska District Court’s denial of…
Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Provision Proving Fertile Breeding Ground for Whistleblowers
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In a securities filing on May 1, 2014, it was announced that Avon Products, Inc. had reached a $135 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice. The $135 million in fines will be paid to the SEC and the DOJ by Avon to resolve violations under the Foreign…
SEC Argues for Broad Construction of Dodd-Frank Act Whistleblower Anti-Retaliation Provision
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
In the wake of recent SEC pronouncements about huge numbers of whistleblower complaints in the pipeline, one of the most hotly contested issues under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act “Dodd Frank Act”) has been the question of whether the Dodd Frank Act’s whistleblower anti-retaliation provision protects only those individuals who report…
5th Circuit Skirts Extraterritoriality Issue Under SOX
By Joseph C. Toris & Jackson Lewis P.C. on
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Villanueva v. Core Laboratories, NV recently held that an individual employed by a foreign subsidiary of a publicly traded company did not engage in protected activity under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act because his complaints focused on violations of Colombian law, not violations of any…
SEC Whistleblower Awarded Record $14 Million
By David R. Jimenez on
On October 1, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that an unidentified whistleblower, “who voluntarily provided original information” to the SEC “that led to the successful enforcement” action against an undisclosed company, has been awarded a record $14 million. According to the SEC, the award “recognizes the significance of the information that the Claimant provided to the Commission, the assistance the Claimant provided in the Commission action, and the law enforcement interest in deterring violations by granting awards.”
This is the third such award the SEC has made under the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DFA) since the statute’s passage in 2010. The others were in the amounts of $50,000 and a little more than $25,000.
The latest record award is no surprise to employers and their lawyers who have been monitoring the SEC’s actions under the DFA’s “bounty” provisions.
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