Wall Street was stunned when, on October 21, 2021 the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a relatively obscure federal agency, announced a $200 million award payable to a whistleblower. This was the largest award ever granted to a whistleblower since bounty payments became available to corporate whistleblowers under the False Claims Act (FCA) in 1986 and the Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) in 2010. Given the amount of the award it is not surprising that those stung by whistleblower disclosures were appalled by the amount of the award. These arguments have been picked up by the mainstream press.
For example, in response to the CTFC award Paul J. Davies, in an opinion column published in the Washington Post, argued that Congress should “draw a line” on the amount a whistleblower can collect and supported capping the amount of awards. Davies’ arguments mirror those of the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber has opposed every whistleblower law, and regularly files briefs in various courts seeking to narrow or undermine the scope of whistleblower protections. Arguing for limits on whistleblower rewards has been a top Chamber agenda item for years.
Although caps may seem like a good idea, upon review they are not. A mandatory limit on rewards would apply to cases regardless of sacrifice or hardships a whistleblower suffered, the value of their information, the years of long delays experienced in most cases, and the adverse tax consequences of obtaining a large lump (highest tax...
According to a BBC undercover investigation, unregulated immigration advisors are allegedly encouraging people to make false claims of domestic abuse to secure their right to stay in the UK. Right...