A recent article by Bloomberg Law attacking the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) highly successful whistleblower program has led to a series of rebuttals by whistleblower and anti-fraud advocates. Following an article by the whistleblower attorneys of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, Taxpayers Against Fraud (TAF) filed a memo to Congress on August 12 briefing lawmakers on the merits of the SEC Whistleblower Program and the misconceptions found in the Bloomberg article.
“Whatever the motives,” TAF’s memo begins, “TAF practitioners universally agree on one thing: Bloomberg blatantly manipulated facts about the program and disingenuously distorted the meaning of comments by some whistleblower lawyers in a way that borders on sensationalist journalism. With this brief set of talking points, TAF seeks to set the record straight on key points.”
The first misconception addressed by the TAF memo is that the program grants awards to whistleblowers culpable in fraud. TAF explains that the program “already contains powerful safeguards to prevent the most culpable whistleblowers from receiving awards.” It notes that individuals convicted of a crime related to their disclosure are ineligible for awards and that the agency has the discretion to lower awards based on a whistleblower’s culpability in the underlying violations. TAF explains that these guardrails have been highly effective and that it “can only find two instances where so-called ‘culpable’ whistleblowers received...
Malaysia has taken steps to ensure continuity of the country's fuel supply as war in the Middle East has caused a global energy crisis, but social media posts continue to spread false claims about ...
