ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Securities and Exchange Commission Whistleblower Awards
Last year alone the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received over 4400 tips about securities fraud from whistleblowers and other complainants. During the course of 2017, the SEC awarded nearly $50 million in whistleblower awards to individuals with new information leading to a successful enforcement action and recovery from wrongdoers. The information described a variety of different types of fraud including public and private offering frauds, such as Ponzi or Ponzi-like schemes, false or misleading statements in a company’s offering memoranda or marketing materials, false pricing information, accounting misrepresentations, illegal insider trading, and internal controls violations, among other types of misconduct.
The California and San Francisco securities whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. represent whistleblowers in SEC cases and know how to submit applications, what type of information will trigger further SEC investigation and assistance for the whistleblower’s case, how best to organize that information, and how to guide your application from initial submission through investigation and discovery to trial or settlement, and how best to secure an award for you. If you have credible information of securities fraud in California call us today at (415)441-8669 and we can help.
The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower (OWB) handles all tips and formal applications. If you suspect securities fraud, do not just call in your information. That could jeopardize your chances of eventually receiving an award. Contact competent securities whistleblower counsel to pursue your case. If a whistleblower chooses to submit an anonymous tip to the OWB, the whistleblower must be represented by counsel. The OWB will keep the identity of the whistleblower confidential and will not disclose the identity to third parties, except in limited circumstances authorized by a statute or other provision of law.
Determination of Awards
SEC whistleblower awards are a percentage of the amount ultimately recovered by the government, including penalties. The SEC considers a number of factors in setting that percentage. The determination is not a hard-set equation. Factors that may increase an award include the significance of the information provided by the whistleblower, the level of assistance provided by the whistleblower, the law enforcement interests at stake, and whether the whistleblower reported the violation internally through his or her firm’s internal reporting channels or mechanisms. Factors that may decrease an award percentage include whether the whistleblower was culpable or involved in the underlying misconduct, interfered with internal compliance systems, or unreasonably delayed in reporting the violation to the SEC.
From beginning to end whistleblower cases are complex, highly procedural, and can take several years. But the rewards are worth the effort. Having competent counsel, such as the experienced SEC whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc., is essential.
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 FINRA Whistleblower Office or other illegal activity, 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.
