ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.
Listen "Whistleblowing Developments: Background and Current Landscape (Part 1)"
Episode Synopsis
In this episode of S&C’s Critical Insights, Annie Ostrager, Co-Head of S&C’s Employment Law Group, Litigation Partner Kamil Shields and Litigation Associate Sabrina Solow, discuss a range of whistleblowing developments.
They touch on the recent downward trend in SEC whistleblowing enforcement and contrast that against the opposite trend under other programs, in part driven by a growing focus on whistleblowers as a potential means of pursuing investigative priorities.
A preview of the conversation can be found in the Q+A below.
Sabrina: Kamil, can you start us off with brief background?
Kamil: In the U.S., there are a variety of avenues for a whistleblower to consider. For example, the SEC, Federal Reserve, CFTC, and a provision of the False Claims Act have long provided an avenue for whistleblowers to come forward. More recently, DOJ Criminal and DOJ Antitrust have developed respective whistleblowing programs.
Sabrina: We’ve been seeing an incredible amount of coverage on whistleblowing cases, regimes, and proposed legislation. But against this background of heightened attention to whistleblower activities, we are seeing a downturn in SEC awards. Annie, can you give some background?
Annie: As reported in the past couple of weeks, the SEC has denied over 30 consecutive awards this year between late-April and mid-July. In fact, only about $20 million has been awarded this year. Although we’re only a little more than halfway through the year, that is a drop in the bucket compared to last year, when the agency awarded over $255 million to 47 individual whistleblowers. This may reflect a change in approach and priorities at the SEC. For example, under the last administration we saw a significant uptick in SEC enforcement actions related to the SEC whistleblower protection rule, Rule 21F-17. Under the current administration, however, we have not seen any SEC whistleblower rule enforcement actions to date.
They touch on the recent downward trend in SEC whistleblowing enforcement and contrast that against the opposite trend under other programs, in part driven by a growing focus on whistleblowers as a potential means of pursuing investigative priorities.
A preview of the conversation can be found in the Q+A below.
Sabrina: Kamil, can you start us off with brief background?
Kamil: In the U.S., there are a variety of avenues for a whistleblower to consider. For example, the SEC, Federal Reserve, CFTC, and a provision of the False Claims Act have long provided an avenue for whistleblowers to come forward. More recently, DOJ Criminal and DOJ Antitrust have developed respective whistleblowing programs.
Sabrina: We’ve been seeing an incredible amount of coverage on whistleblowing cases, regimes, and proposed legislation. But against this background of heightened attention to whistleblower activities, we are seeing a downturn in SEC awards. Annie, can you give some background?
Annie: As reported in the past couple of weeks, the SEC has denied over 30 consecutive awards this year between late-April and mid-July. In fact, only about $20 million has been awarded this year. Although we’re only a little more than halfway through the year, that is a drop in the bucket compared to last year, when the agency awarded over $255 million to 47 individual whistleblowers. This may reflect a change in approach and priorities at the SEC. For example, under the last administration we saw a significant uptick in SEC enforcement actions related to the SEC whistleblower protection rule, Rule 21F-17. Under the current administration, however, we have not seen any SEC whistleblower rule enforcement actions to date.
In God we trust