Archive

British Columbia: It’s Time for a Securities Whistleblower Program

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team The ever-increasing complexity of the securities markets is making fraud harder to detect and making whistleblowers more essential than ever before. With insider knowledge, whistleblowers can help enforcement officials detect fraud and apprehend fraudsters much quicker than otherwise. Whistleblowers who approach authorities take tremendous risk, including the risk of ruining their...

SEC Issues Bitcoin Warning to Investors

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team SEC Chairman Jay Clayton recently issued a statement warning investors about the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (“ICO”). “A number of concerns have been raised regarding the cryptocurrency and ICO markets, including that, as they are currently operating, there is substantially less investor protection than in our traditional securities...

SEC Awards More Than $16 Million to Two Whistleblowers

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team The SEC announced awards of more than $8 million each to two whistleblowers whose critical information and continuing assistance helped the agency bring the successful underlying enforcement action. With this case, SEC enforcement actions involving whistleblower awards have now resulted in more than $1 billion in financial remedies ordered against wrongdoers. The first...

Senator Grassley Proposes Important Whistleblower Amendments to GOP Tax Bill

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Charles Grassley, the seven-term Iowa Senator and long-time whistleblower advocate, has introduced two amendments to the Senate’s “Tax Cuts and Jobs Bill” that would assist whistleblowers. One would prevent the double-taxation of certain whistleblower awards, while another would permit whistleblowers who report criminal tax frauds to collect awards from criminal fines...

New York Hits Credit Suisse with $135M Fine for Forex Violations

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Credit Suisse AG agreed to pay a $135 million fine to settle charges by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) that the bank violated New York banking law through a variety of illegal activities that disadvantaged customers. Specifically, the government found that from at least 2008 to 2015, Credit Suisse "consistently engaged in unlawful, unsafe and unsound...

SEC Report Shows a Significant Number of Tips Coming From UK Whistleblowers

The 2016 Annual Report to Congress on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program shows a growing number of international whistleblowers are taking advantage of the SEC's award program. In 2016 alone, the Commission received submissions from individuals in 67 foreign countries.  After the United States, the SEC received the highest number of whistleblower tips from the UK and Canada. OWB Annual Report 2016

Department of Justice Compensates Victims of Bernard Madoff Fraud Scheme With Funds Recovered Through Asset Forfeiture

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team The Department of Justice today announced that on Nov. 9, the Madoff Victim Fund began its initial distribution of $772.5 million in funds forfeited to the U.S. Government in connection with the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC fraud scheme.  These funds will be sent to 24,631 victims across the globe. This distribution represents the first in a series of payments that...

SEC Charges Day Trader for Fraud and Market Manipulation

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced charges against a day trader accused of accessing over 100 victims’ brokerage accounts to make unauthorized trades that artificially altered various stock prices. The defendant, Joseph P. Willner, allegedly traded on those artificial prices using his personal account to secure at least $700,000 in illicit...

SEC Supreme Court Amicus Brief Filed in Support of Whistleblower Anti-Retaliation Provisions Under Dodd-Frank

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team An article from Law360 discusses the SEC’s position on the anti-retaliation provisions in Dodd-Frank based on an amicus brief filed in the Supreme Court. The case involves whistleblower Paul Somers, a former employee of Digital Realty Trust Inc., who sought to take advantage of Dodd-Frank’s anti-retaliation provisions even though he did not report the alleged securities...

SEC Announces Whistleblower Award of More Than a Million Dollars

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team The SEC announced that a whistleblower has earned an award of more than $1 million for providing the SEC with new information and substantial corroborating documentation of a securities law violation by a registered entity that impacted retail customers. “Today’s award reflects the impact that whistleblower information can have in uncovering violations that harm the retail...