Reporting to Government

August 29, 2014

The SEC announced a whistleblower award of more than $300,000 to a company employee who performed audit and compliance functions and reported wrongdoing to the SEC after the company failed to take action when the employee reported it internally.  It is the first award for a whistleblower with an audit or compliance function at a company.  This particular whistleblower award recipient reported concerns of wrongdoing to appropriate personnel within the company, including a supervisor.  But when the company took no action on the information within 120 days, the whistleblower reported the same information to the SEC.  SEC

July 15, 2015

The New Mexico Attorney General announced the creation of the Fraud Recovery Strike Force, a unit in his office charged with aggressively investigating and pursuing litigation to protect New Mexico consumers, New Mexico taxpayers, and to recover public funds. The Fraud Recovery Strike Force is charged with investigating false claims and deceptive practices, and is partnering with whistle-blowers to expose abuse and corruption. The strike force will enforce state and federal law in order to recover millions of dollars fleeced from the public treasury and New Mexico’s economy at no additional cost to the taxpayer. Its efforts will be directed to high priority risk areas including securities fraud, investments with public employee retirement funds, health care fraud, and marketplace fraud. NM