ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
SEC Has Rewarded More Than $928 Million To Whistleblowers
166 Individuals Have Received Rewards
Whistleblowers Remain Anonymous And Confidential
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”), Pub. L. 111-203, created the Whistleblower Office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2010 to encourage and reward private individuals who bring information of securities fraud to the agency’s attention. Since inception the SEC Whistleblower Office has awarded over $928 million to 166 individuals whose information led to successful enforcement actions. Individuals may have information concerning any number of securities law violations for which rewards are paid, whether it’s Dodd-Frank, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) Rule 21F4(d), 17 C.F.R. § 240.21F-4(d)(2); the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. §§ 77a et seq, Rule 10b-5, or any other federal securities law. If you have credible, original information of securities fraud in California call us today at (415)441-8669 and we can help. Our toll-free number is 1-888-50EVANS (888-503-8267).
Recent Large Awards
The SEC recently announced two whistleblower awards[1] totaling more than $23 million issued to anonymous individuals whose evidence led to successful SEC and other related actions. According to the SEC’s announcement, Claimant 1’s reporting sparked an SEC investigation into fraud as well as an investigation by another federal agency. Although Claimant 2 waited several years to submit their information to the SEC, the evidence provided was significant enough to contribute to the ongoing investigations. According to the agency both Claimant 1 and Claimant 2 submitted important documents, identified key players involved in the fraud, and participated in interviews with SEC enforcement staff. For their efforts, Claimant 1 received an award of $13 million and Claimant 2 received an award of $10 million.
“The whistleblowers’ information and assistance led to multiple successful enforcement actions related to a complex and fraudulent scheme involving multiple individuals and tens of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains,” said Emily Pasquinelli, Acting Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. “Today’s awards demonstrate the SEC’s continuing commitment to making awards to individuals who provide high-quality information that assists the SEC and other government agencies in bringing successful enforcement actions.”
Starting An SEC Whistleblower Action
Most often, the whistleblower is an insider with information of stock price manipulation, accounting or disclosure misrepresentations to investors, fraudulent trading schemes, insider trading, Ponzi schemes or other types of securities fraud. Sometimes, however, the original information is generated by “outsiders,” persons who have studied a company’s financial affairs closely, tracked trading in a company’s stock, or closely analyzed a public company’s financial reports to uncover fraudulent practices. Either way, the process begins by submitting a Tip, Complaint and Referral (TCR) Form to the SEC. The TCR should set forth a description of the securities law violations you are reporting and a summary of the information you have supporting your belief that the law has been violated. The SEC treats all tips, complaints and referrals as confidential and nonpublic, and does not disclose such information to third parties, except in limited circumstances authorized by statute, rule, or other provisions of law. As a matter of practice, the whistleblower program provides additional confidentiality protections, consistent with the limitations on disclosure of information that could reasonably be expected to reveal the identity of a whistleblower set forth in Section 21F(h)(2) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 [15 U.S.C. § 78u-6(h)(2)] and Rule 21F-7 of the SEC’s Whistleblower Rules [17 C.F.R. § 240.21F-7].
Any individual submitting a TCR is protected from any kind of employer retaliation from blowing the whistle on securities fraud. Commission Rule 21F-17(a). If you are retaliated against, we can represent you in any action for wrongful employer retaliation as well as in your underlying whistleblower action.
Contact Us
In addition to SEC Whistleblower cases, Ingrid M. Evans handles all types of whistleblower cases involving allegations under the federal or California False Claims Acts, the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), the Bank Secrecy Act, the Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Office, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Office, the FINRA Whistleblower Office or other government agency whistleblower programs. If you have information that may lead to a whistleblower suit of any kind, call us at (415) 441-8669, or email <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our toll-free number is 1-888-50EVANS (888-503-8267).
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in the two cases.
