Constantine Cannon Represents the Center for Media and Democracy in new IRS Whistleblower Complaint against American Legislative Exchange Council

ALEC peddled campaign software to members despite 501(c)(3) status; Seeing illegality, a legislator and ALEC internal whistleblower turned them in On behalf of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), the law firm Constantine Cannon LLP today filed a complaint with the IRS Whistleblower Office against the nonprofit American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), alleging ALEC has brazenly engaged in political campaign intervention in violation of its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status by...

Auto-safety regulators finally take steps to stand up nation’s only safety-focused whistleblower program, but challenges lie ahead

Back in 2015, the public seethed over the auto industry’s historic failures.  Takata’s air-bag scandal, Toyota’s unintended-acceleration deceptions, and General Motors’s deadly ignition-switch cover-up were in the headlines.  Hundreds died and millions were exposed to grave dangers because of the industry’s propensity to bury known safety defects. In 2015, Congress tried to turn the tide, passing the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act.  The law created a whistleblower reward program in...

Partner Mary Inman joins Shaifali Joshi-Clark of the Ontario Securities Commission’s Whistleblower Office to discuss the OSC’s whistleblower reward program at Whistleblowing Canada Research Society event “The Expansion of Whistleblower Reward Programs in the U.S., Canada and Globally.”

On March 17, 2021, Constantine Cannon whistleblower partner Mary Inman joined Shaifali Joshi-Clark, a senior forensic accountant in the Whistleblower Office of the Ontario Securities Commission (“OSC”), as a co-panellist for a webinar entitled “The Expansion of Whistleblower Reward Programs in the U.S., Canada and Globally,” organised by Whistleblowing Canada Research Society (“WCRS”) and moderated by Canadian labor and human rights advocate David Yazbeck.  Mary and David are both members...

Why FinCEN Should Quickly Establish Regulations for the New AML Whistleblower Program

The nascent AML whistleblower program promises to boost enforcement in a difficult area, but FinCEN must swiftly develop regulations to ensure that it launches the program in the most robust way possible. Created by the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA), passed as part of the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the program went into immediate effect.  Motivated by retaliation protections and the potential for rewards, whistleblowers ready to...

CFTC Clobbers Cryptocurrency Con Man

Last week, the CFTC announced that a federal court entered a nearly $600 million default judgment against a British man who used bitcoin to defraud more than 1,000 people worldwide.  The judgment is yet another indication that the CFTC will vigorously police cryptocurrency fraud. The Scam The CFTC filed a complaint against Benjamin Reynolds and his bitcoin trading and investment company, Control-Finance, back in 2019.  Reynolds’ scheme was simple.  He...

The New BSA Whistleblower Provision – From the Whistleblowers’ Perspective

Constantine Cannon whistleblower attorneys Mary Inman and Carolina Gonzalez were recently guest bloggers at Money Laundering Watch from Ballard Spahr.  Ballard Spahr attorneys Peter D. Hardy and Meredith S. Dante posed questions to Inman and Gonzalez about recent amendments to the Bank Secrecy Act that provide new options for whistleblowers reporting anti-money laundering violations.  With the kind permission of Money Laundering Watch, we include that exchange here for our readers....

Second Annual Constantine Cannon Law School Essay Writing Contest on the Importance of Whistleblowers

It has been a difficult year for all of us on so many different levels.  But it also has been a time of hope and inspiration drawn from so many who have been thrust into the front lines, risking their own wellbeing for the care and safety of others.  Of course, among this cadre of courageous souls are all those who refused to stand by quietly in the face of...

Court of Appeals Upholds SEC Denial of Whistleblower Award

A whistleblower who was denied an award by the SEC lost his appeal to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, resulting in a rare court opinion addressing the SEC Whistleblower Reward Program. The court agreed with the SEC that the whistleblower, who had reported information regarding Bank of America and argued that he had worked extensively with DOJ, had not shown that he was entitled to a whistleblower...

Top Ten Whistleblower Awards for 2020

2020 was another strong year for whistleblowers, who once again collectively recovered billions of dollars for the government and hundreds of millions of dollars in whistleblower rewards through their filing of lawsuits under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  Whistleblowers this past year also continued to secure financial rewards under the Dodd-Frank SEC Whistleblower and CFTC Whistleblower programs, and under the various state False Claims Act programs....

Top Ten SEC and CFTC Recoveries of 2020

Despite its many shortcomings, 2020 did bring great news for whistleblowers: record-breaking growth in the CFTC and SEC Whistleblower Programs, as well as massive enforcement actions by both agencies.  In this post, we will detail the Top Ten SEC and CFTC recoveries of 2020 in cases other than FCPA enforcement.  As detailed below, the SEC netted billions of dollars in penalties and restitution from companies accused of registration violations and...