ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Government Announces Record Whistleblower Awards
Earlier this year, record whistleblower awards were paid out on two separate cases.[1] In the first, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reported that two whistleblowers would receive a combined $61 million in awards. The SEC’s previous record was $30 million. Separately, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced a $30 million whistleblower award. If you or someone you love has information regarding a whistleblower/qui tam case in San Francisco or elsewhere in California involving the SEC Whistleblower Program, False Claims Act cases, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Whistleblower Office, or a CFTC whistleblower case, contact the California whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. today at (415)441-8669.
The CFTC regulates commodity futures and options markets, including for example trading in virtual currencies like Bitcoin. The large CFTC award came in a case involving a large national bank that allegedly failed to properly disclose to wealthy asset management customers certain conflicts of interest with respect to the bank’s management of futures and options in their accounts. This was a particularly large award for the CFTC whose whistleblower program has historically been much smaller than the SEC’s. That apparently is about to change. As Christopher Ehrman, Director of the CFTC Whistleblower Office, put it, “This year for us is going to be huge.”
CFTC Whistleblower Program
The CFTC makes awards to whistleblowers who provide original information in cases where the CFTC ultimately collects more than $1 million in recovery and fines. Whistleblower awards range between 10 percent and 30 percent of the sanctions collected. The CFTC has also strengthened its protections of whistleblowers from employer retaliation. The CFTC now has the authority to take affirmative enforcement action against employers that retaliate against employees. In addition, the new rules prohibit employers from impeding or discouraging employees from reporting potential violations to the CFTC. This means that employment, confidentiality or severance agreements may not contain provisions that in any way deter or restrict whistleblowers from taking their concerns to regulators. The SEC can also take legal action against retaliating employers.
Remedies for Employer Retaliation
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) created a private right of action that gives whistleblowers the right to file a retaliation complaint against an employer in federal court. This means that if you are a whistleblower who has reported a possible securities law violation and believe you have been retaliated against because of your report, you may be able under Dodd-Frank to sue your employer in federal court and seek double back pay (with interest), reinstatement, reasonable attorneys’ fees, and reimbursement for certain costs in connection with the litigation. The California whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. can represent you in any federal court action for retaliation as well as represent you in your underlying whistleblower application.
Contact Us
If you or someone you love has information regarding a whistleblower/qui tam case in San Francisco or elsewhere in California involving the Securities and Exchange Commission Whistleblower Program, False Claims Act cases, the Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Office, or the CFTC Whistleblower Office, contact California whistleblower attorney Ingrid Evans and the other Evans Law Firm whistleblower attorneys 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 FINRA Arbitration, 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 either of these reported cases.
