Archive

State Enforcement Spotlight – HSBC

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This State Enforcement Spotlight features HSBC. On Friday, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a $470 million joint state-federal settlement with mortgage lender and servicer HSBC to address mortgage origination, servicing, and foreclosure abuses. The terms will prevent past foreclosure abuses, such as robo-signing, improper documentation and lost paperwork. See NY AG...

Newly Released Government Accountability Project White Paper Responds To Security And Exchange Commission Rulings Penalizing Whistleblowers For Delay In Disclosing Corporate Fraud

By Jessica T. Moore Seemingly unexplained and arbitrary SEC rulings reducing whistleblower awards due to reporting “delays” have troubled those who work to expose fraud against investors.  See The Hill, SEC whistleblowers be warned, don’t delay in reporting fraud.  Now, an in-depth study from the Government Accountability Project details why such delays may occur.  The goals of the paper, Why...

Is the Eros Whistleblower the Harry Markopolos of Bollywood or Just Another Short Selling Fraudster?

By Tim McCormack and Molly Knobler (published in the Huffington Post) Eros International, the so-called Netflix of Bollywood, is deep in the throes of either an Enron-type accounting scandal or a vicious smear campaign by an anonymous source intent on driving its stock price down (perhaps to profit from manipulating the share price). The anonymous source, a blogger known as Alpha Exposure, has published a series...

SEC’s 23rd Whistleblower Award Goes to a “Company Outsider”

On Friday, January 15^th, the SEC made an award of more than $700,000 to a whistleblower the agency described as a “company outsider who conducted a detailed analysis that led to a successful SEC enforcement action.” The SEC’s whistleblower program explicitly provides for financial rewards to company outsiders by allowing “independent analysis” — even when based on publicly available information — to...

Top-10 DOJ Prison Sentences For Fraud In 2015

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Here is our look-back at the top-10 prison sentences secured by the Department of Justice for healthcare, financial and other types of fraud in 2015.      10.  CHRISTOPHER CIAMPA -- The U.S. Army soldier stationed in Afghanistan was sentenced to 10 years for submitting fake Transportation Movement Requests (TMRs) for thousands of gallons of fuel that were neither...

Even the Mysterious Must Face the Taxman: Australian Authorities Raid Home of Suspected Founder of Bitcoin

By Tim McCormack On December 9, police in Australia raided the home of a man suspected of being the elusive and previously anonymous creator of digital currency Bitcoin.  Launched in 2009 by an anonymous programmer known by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin has since grown exponentially.  Indeed, “[a]s it’s been adopted for everything from international money transfers to online narcotrafficking, the...

Compliance Officers in the Crosshairs?

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Are compliance officers being targeted by government regulators?   An increased focus on individual accountability is making those professionals feel particularly vulnerable, even as regulators in the United States and abroad emphasize their partnership with compliance officers. Andrew Ceresney, director of the Security & Exchange Commission Division of Enforcement,

SEC Enforcement Spotlight – Bob Marley-Linked Jammin’ Java Charged with Massive Pump and Dump Fraud Scheme

By Tim McCormack The Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges yesterday against nine people in connection with a classic pump and dump market manipulation scheme involving the stock of Jammin’ Java, also known as Marley Coffee.   See SEC Press Release.  According to the SEC’s complaint, Jammin Java’s former CEO Shane Whittle orchestrated the fraud, which culminated in 2011 with the collapse...

SEC pays $325K whistleblower award but warns it could have been more

Yesterday, the SEC sent a message, and it wasn’t subtle: speed counts. The agency announced it was making a $325,000 award to the 22^nd whistleblower to receive an award under the SEC’s whistleblower program since its inception in 2011.  But its press release also stressed that “the award could have been higher” had the whistleblower not “hesitated” to bring his or her information to the Commission. The...

In Their Own Words — McKessy

-- “This award recognizes the value of the information and assistance provided by the whistleblower while underscoring the need for whistleblowers to report information to the agency expeditiously.”

Sean X. McKessy, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, announcing a $325,000 Whistleblower Award to Whistleblower who’s information led to a successful SEC enforcement action against an investment firm. ...