Utah Whistleblower Hotline

Securities and Exchange Commission

SEC doles out first award during Trump era; but is whistleblower program in trouble

SEC doles out first award during Trump era; but is whistleblower program in trouble

In late April, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued its first whistleblower award during the Trump administration, awarding almost $4 million to an individual that the SEC said provided the agency with original information that led to the successful…
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Dodd-Frank Act, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Whistleblower, Whistleblower award

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$20M award adds to historic SEC total

Earlier this week, the SEC announced a more than $20 million whistleblower award “to a whistleblower who promptly came forward with valuable information that enabled the SEC to move quickly and initiate an enforcement action against wrongdoers before they could…
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Dodd-Frank Act, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Whistleblower, Whistleblower award

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SEC settles first stand-alone retaliation enforcement action

Late in September, the SEC Office of the Whistleblower brought its second stand-alone whistleblower retaliation enforcement action against International Game Technology (“IGT”) over allegations that the company fired “an employee with several years of positive performance reviews because [the employee]…
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Dodd-Frank Act, Retaliation, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, workplace retaliation

Monsanto whistleblower gets $22M award

At the end of last month, the SEC announced “the award of more than $22 million to a whistleblower whose detailed tip and extensive assistance helped” the SEC bring to an end a “well-hidden” fraud at Monsanto where the whistleblower…
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Dodd-Frank Act, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Whistleblower award, Whistleblower protection

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Pretaliation severance agreements a no-no

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has recently reiterated its stance against problematic pretaliation severance agreements that attempt to require outgoing employees to waive their rights to recover a whistleblower bounty or to bring a qui tam action against his…
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Dodd-Frank Act, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission

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SEC whistleblower awards trending up

In May 2016 alone, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) paid approximately $10 million in whistleblower awards.  These frequent and ever-increasing awards should serve as a stern notice to in-house counsel and compliance personnel alike that SEC whistleblower awards may…
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Dodd-Frank Act, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission

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CFTC pays whistleblower $10 million

Until recently, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“CFTC”) Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program had only paid out two whistleblower awards, totaling $530,000 ($290,000 and $240,000, respectively), over the entire life of the program.  However, that changed significantly when the CFTC announced…
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CFTC Whistleblower Program, Dodd-Frank Act, IRS, IRS Tax Whistleblower Program, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Whistleblower, Whistleblower award, Whistleblower protection, workplace retaliation

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Whistleblower award of $700,000 to an “outsider”

A whistleblower is usually someone who works for a company where fraud is suspected; someone with “insider” knowledge of what’s going on within the company. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes the whistleblower is an outsider with expert knowledge…
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Dodd-Frank Act, Government, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Whistleblower, whistleblower attorney, Whistleblower award

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