ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Wants Whistleblower Help
Commission Issues Large Reward
Information Can Lead To Investigation Even If Not Exact
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on December 19 it will award more than $1 million to a whistleblower whose tip helped expose a scheme that allegedly violated the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), 7 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq., and eventually led to the CFTC filing charges.[1] The individual first provided the information of alleged trading violations through her employer’s internal compliance program to another regulator and then subsequently provided the allegations directly to the CFTC. This award is significant because it recognizes that whistleblowers are eligible to receive an award for 1) being the original source of information the CFTC receives from another regulator, or 2) a tip that leads to evidence of an alleged violation the CFTC ultimately charges, even if the reported conduct itself does not form the basis for those charges. If you have credible information of any sort of commodity trading fraud (including gold, futures, options, or virtual currencies like Bitcoins, for example) call the CFTC whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. today at (415)441-8669.
CFTC Director of Enforcement James McDonald explained that the recent award “shows how referrals from other regulators can have a meaningful impact on the Commission’s enforcement program, and lead to whistleblower awards from the CFTC.” Moreover, the CFTC rewarded the whistleblower even though the conduct she alleges was not exactly what the CFTC pursued against the wrongdoer. “As the specific facts and circumstances of this matter demonstrate, the whistleblower does not have to identify the exact wrongdoing the CFTC ultimately charges—it is enough for their information to lead CFTC investigators directly to evidence of one or more of the agency’s claims,” said CFTC Whistleblower Office Director Christopher Ehrman. “Here, the whistleblower identified a problem in one area, and our Division of Enforcement used that knowledge and the whistleblower’s subsequent assistance to uncover illegality in another.”
The CFTC has paid out approximately $100 million in awards since its whistleblower program was created under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. If you have credible information of gold, commodities, securities, banking, or tax fraud in California call the Evans Law Firm whistleblower attorneys today at (415)441-8669 and we can help. Our whistleblower attorneys represent whistleblowers in CFTC cases, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cases for securities fraud (related to stocks, bonds, private placements and variable annuities for example), banking fraud under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) cases for tax fraud, particularly offshore tax avoidance schemes, and False Claims Act cases against corporations defrauding the government for payments or reimbursements. The government keeps whistleblower identity confidential as long as possible under the law and whistleblower laws protect whistleblowers from retaliation by their employers. Our lawyers represent whistleblowers in their underlying whistleblower actions and also in any lawsuit for wrongful termination or other retaliation by their employer.
Contact Us
If you have information regarding a whistleblower/qui tam case in San Francisco or elsewhere in California involving the Commodities Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Program, the Securities and Exchange Commission Whistleblower Program, False Claims Act cases, the Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Office, banking fraud under the Financial Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), or other illegal activity, contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other California whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our attorneys have experience with complex financial contracts and large insurance companies. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We also handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in the case in any way.
