Legislation and Regulation News

SEC Proposes Rule Amendments to Strengthen Whistleblower Program

The SEC recently announced proposed changes to its whistleblower program that would strengthen it for the years to come.  The proposals would roll back two controversial rule amendments that the SEC adopted in 2020, which significantly increased the uncertainty facing would-be whistleblowers.  Below we discuss the pros and cons of these new proposals, which would improve that status quo but have issues of their...

Annual Inflation Adjustment Raises False Claims Act Penalties

As of December 13, 2021, each separate violation of the False Claims Act exposes defendants to a per-claim penalty between $11,803 and $23,607.  The increase is part of the Civil Monetary Penalties Adjustment for 2021, a rule issued by the Department of Justice in accordance with the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 as part of annual adjustment for inflation.  The increase is small – the prior range was $11,665 -...

CFTC Whistleblower Program 2021 Annual Report Shows Continuing Strength of Program as it Manages Challenging Year

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued its required annual report to Congress covering the CFTC Whistleblower Reward Program.  The report details the successes of the program over the 2021 fiscal year.  Created by the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC Whistleblower Program pays awards to eligible whistleblowers who voluntarily provide the Commission with original information, about matters within the CFTC’s...

The New ENABLERS Act May Be a Backdoor Way to Expand the Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Program

In The Hill this week, I argue that the newly proposed ENABLERS Act is a lot more powerful than even its authors seem to realize.  The proposed law would effectively expand the Bank Secrecy Act to apply the same reporting requirements currently imposed on banks to all sorts of actors who enable (get it?) money laundering: lawyers, investment advisers, accountants, art dealers, public relations firms, and the like. ...

Passage of “Silenced No More Act” Poised to Usher in New Era of Transparency, Where California Whistleblowers Will No Longer be Gagged by Overly Broad Non-Disclosure Agreements and Non-Disparagement Clauses and Can More Freely Report Corporate Fraud

On Monday, August 30^th, the California Legislature took a giant leap forward in promoting transparency, corporate accountability, and integrity by passing Senate Bill 331, the “Silenced No More Act,” which is soon to be one of the country’s most advanced laws redressing the insidious role NDAs and other concealment and non-disparagement clauses have played in preventing whistleblowers from speaking up about...

Whistleblowers are Essential to Protect Infrastructure Funds

America’s roads, bridges, power grids, and airports are a mess.  Recently a group of civil and structural engineers graded the nation’s infrastructure a below-average C-. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill currently before Congress aims to solve some of those issues, with what the White House described as “a once-in-a-generation investment in our infrastructure.” The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill promises...

What Maryland can Learn from the IRS on the State’s New Tax Program: Ari Yampolsky and Michael Ronickher in the Washington Post

Opening with the warning “tax cheats beware,” Constantine Cannon whistleblower attorneys Ari Yampolsky and Michael Ronickher published an opinion piece in the Washington Post detailing the provisions of Maryland’s new tax whistleblower reward program, which covers state and county tax fraud and underpayments. While New York has long allowed whistleblowers to use its state False Claims Act to bring tax claims,...

Biden Administration Focuses on Cybersecurity in Government Contracting – What Can Whistleblowers Do?

Following a number of high-profile cybersecurity incidents, the Biden administration is taking steps to improve the nation’s cybersecurity infrastructure.  The federal government is making cybersecurity an enforcement priority, devoting additional resources to enforcement and upgrades, and strengthening technology standards.  Many of these planned improvements focus on the federal government’s own information...

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

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