Whistleblower News From The Inside -- April 13, 2018
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
SEC Awards Whistleblower More Than $2.1 Million – The SEC announced a whistleblower award of more than $2.1 million to a former company insider whose information led to multiple successful enforcement actions. The whistleblower’s information strongly supported the findings in the underlying actions and the whistleblower provided ongoing assistance to the staff during the investigation. “The SEC has issued nearly $90 million in whistleblower awards in the past month alone,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. “As these awards demonstrate, we continue to receive high-quality information from whistleblowers, which we use to detect and prosecute securities violations and safeguard investors.”
Wells Fargo could face $1 billion penalty for auto and mortgage abuses – The beleaguered bank warned that it may revise its first quarter earnings results because of the fine. The bank says that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have offered to resolve their investigations for that amount. Wells Fargo apologized last year for charging as many as 570,000 clients for car insurance they didn’t need. In October, the bank revealed that some mortgage borrowers were inappropriately charged for missing a deadline to lock in promised interest rates, even though the delays were Wells Fargo’s fault. CNN Money
Employees say Pruitt’s head of security encouraged his spending: report – The head of Scott Pruitt’s security detail at the Environmental Protection Agency allegedly encouraged him to engage in wasteful spending. According to Politico, Pasquale Perrotta, the head of security at the EPA, encouraged some of Pruitt’s more questionable spending decisions, including urging the EPA chief to fly first class to avoid hostile passengers and his request for a $43,000 soundproof phone booth. Perrotta also shot down insinuations from other EPA staffers that Pruitt’s spending habits might be improper, the report alleges. The Hill