What Does the SEC Whistleblower Statute Cover?

The federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) whistleblower statute provides whistleblowers with workplace anti-retaliation protections and a financial bounty for disclosing corporate fraud by publicly traded companies.

Who Can Be an SEC Whistleblower?

Global recessions and depressions can result in better laws to police banks, stockbrokers, and financial analysists. One such example of a positive result of economic woes are Amercian securities regulations that encourage whistleblowing in the private economic sector. The federal Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] of the United States, first created in the 1930's, following the collapse of the U.S. and international stock markets and triggering a horrofic global economic depression, now has a process for whistleblowing.

The SEC whistleblower statute was enacted as part of the "Dodd-Frank" reform legislation growing out of the financial disasters in 2007-2008 and thereafter. The SEC whistleblower statute in Dodd-Frank rewards those reporting violations of the public reporting and financial integrity laws involving publicly-traded companies. Successful whistleblowers may obtain a percentage of the amounts recovered by the SEC from the violators. 

SEC whistleblowers can be individuals experiencing retaliation for their internal whistleblowing.  The SEC whistleblower statute encourages internal whistleblowing at public companies whose stock is traded on stock exchanges. But, SEC whistleblowers need not risk their jobs and report only within the company. SEC whistleblowers can file complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission reporting the wrongdoing. 

SEC whistleblowing can be accomplished by employees and others with knowledge of the fraud and violations.  International SEC whistleblowers are welcome to file claims reporting U.S. securities violations. Many large publicly-traded corporations do immense amounts of business in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Violations of laws internationally can cause violations of  American laws governing foreign corrupt practices, trade embargoes, and human rights abuses. 

SEC Whistleblower Claims Are Global, from India to Burkina Faso

The United States Government Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s most recent annual report to the U.S. Congress on its whistleblower program makes clear that the SEC program is international.  The SEC has had over 1,000 whistleblower tips from people outside of the United States' borders in 2012-2014. 

"American taxpayers, workers, and investors will benefit from foreign whistleblowers" says Ann Lugbill, attorney with Murphy Anderson PLLC. Lugbill commented on the recent SEC Congressional report: "In many instances, foreign whistleblowers provide the SEC with critical information. Overseas sources of information may hold the keys to the SEC's ability to effectively investigate false and fraudulent financial transactions of large multinational companies. "

Overseas whistleblowers who report fraud in violation of American laws protecting shareholders are entitled to the same rewards as whistleblowers who resie in the U.S.A. 

In September 2014, the SEC announced that a whistleblower from a foreign country would receive somewhere between $ 30 and $ 35 million, as a reward for information that resulted in a major SEC enforcement action and related legal proceedings. The name of the whistleblower is confidential. Even the country where the whistleblower lives is not public information. The SEC whistleblower systems has confidentialty rules to protect whistleblowers, including those who live abroad. 

Foreign whistleblowers hail from many corners of the globe.  The largest number of SEC whistleblowers are from the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland), Canada, India, China, Australia, Germany, and the island country of Curacao, a former colony of The Netherlands. Other SEC whistleblower tips have come from Argentina, Uzbekistan, Burkina Faso, the Maldives, Ireland, Switzerland, France, and Italy


 

 

 

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