Catch of the Week: Capital One pays $390M to resolve anti-money laundering (AML) violations.

Capital One, one of America’s ten largest banks, has agreed to pay $390 million to resolve allegations that it violated the Bank Secrecy Act and various other laws targeted at preventing money laundering. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) specifically said that Capital One willfully failed to guard against money laundering from 2008 to 2014, including a failure to file thousands of suspicious activities reports and currency transaction...

Congress Set to Pass NDAA with New Whistleblower Reward Provisions for Money Laundering

The FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), likely to be passed by Congress this week, takes a critical step for anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement by creating a long overdue AML whistleblower program.  The NDAA’s new whistleblower program, administered by the Department of Treasury, would provide for mandatory awards to whistleblowers who brought forward information about violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), our primary AML enforcement law. As our attorneys...

Record-Setting Submissions: CFTC Whistleblower Program 2020 Annual Report Documents Increasing Popularity of Program

Every year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is required to report to Congress about the CFTC Whistleblower Reward Program, created by the Dodd-Frank Act, which pays awards to eligible whistleblowers who voluntarily provide the Commission with original information, about matters within the CFTC’s jurisdiction, that leads to the recovery of more than $1 million in monetary sanctions.  This week, the CFTC released its 2020 Annual Report covering the fiscal year...

SEC Again Postpones Hearing on Controversial Whistleblower Award Rule Amendments

For the second time, the SEC pulled the plug on hearings to consider amendments to some key rules affecting its whistleblower reward program.  Just a day before hearings scheduled for September 2, 2020, the SEC canceled them, indicating only that they would be rescheduled for a future date.  The Commission had done the same thing in fall 2019, abandoning hearings at the last minute. There are many potential reasons for...

Whistleblowers Are Critical to Exposing Fraud in the Murky World of For-Profit and Private-Equity Nursing Home Operations

The settlement of a fraud case against 27 skilled nursing facilities controlled by private owners demonstrates “the power of whistleblowers to shine a light on improper business practices and obtain significant recoveries on behalf of United States taxpayers.”  (U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna, C.D. California.)  The government’s recognition of the contributions of whistleblowers in the False Claims Act case against Longwood Management Corp. is one of several remarkable features: the eye-popping...

Canadian Accountability Experts Propose Comprehensive “Hack” Promoting Increased Transparency and Support for Whistleblowers

A group of prominent accountability experts have come up with a comprehensive proposal designed to increase transparency and whistleblower protections in Canada. The Canadian COVID-19 Accountability Group (CCAG), comprised of former whistleblowers and other experts from academia, law, policing and journalism, was created in response to Constantine Cannon’s FT Innovative Lawyers Global Legal Hackathon challenge. The challenge seeks hacks that remove “the legal, technological and cultural barriers that prevent whistleblowers...

Whistleblower Law and Practice in the U.S. and Beyond – Gonzalez Speaks at Euro Latam Lex Conference

On February 6, 2020, Carolina Gonzalez of our London Office spoke at the VI International Congress of Euro Latam Lex in Washington, D.C.  This year’s edition focused on “Challenges in Compliance as we Enter the New ‘Roaring Twenties.’”  Carolina’s panel discussed key whistleblower reward programs in the US:  CFTC, SEC, IRS, and the False Claims Act, the expansion of similar programs in other jurisdictions like Canada and South Korea, and...

Whistleblower Law and Practice in the US and Beyond

Constantine Cannon attorney Carolina Gonzalez was a speaker on the panel, “Whistleblower Law and Practice in the US and Beyond”  at the "Challenges in Compliance  as We Enter  the New ‘Roaring Twenties’"  conference held by the EURO LATAM LEX, the international Network of law firms, on February 6, 2020, in Washington, DC.  Click here to read the presentation.        

SEC Whistleblower Program 2019 Annual Report Tells Story of Significant Impact - Despite Beginning the Year with a Government Shutdown

In its 2019 Annual Report to Congress, the SEC Office of the Whistleblower described its program as continuing to have a “significant impact” on enforcement and investor protection efforts.  In the fiscal year that ended in September 2019, the SEC Whistleblower Program received the second highest number of tips in program history, and issued the third largest whistleblower award to date. These numbers illustrate the benefits of the SEC Whistleblower Program, which...

Legislation Watch: Proposed Amendments to Bank Secrecy Act Include Whistleblower Rewards

Currently in the 116th Congress, both the House and Senate are considering bills that would amend existing law to provide a whistleblower reporting system and meaningful financial rewards to whistleblowers who come forward to the federal government to report unlawful money laundering and other violations of specified banking laws. We have previously written on the important benefits that would be available with meaningful anti-money laundering (“AML”) whistleblower rewards. These bills,...