In September, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced the settlement of three enforcement actions for violations of SEC whistleblower protection laws. In the actions, the SEC asserted that the companies – both public and private – had violated the SEC whistleblower protection laws in various types of separation, confidentiality, employment and other agreements, and imposed penalties of up to $10 million. The recent actions are particularly notable because certain of the companies had taken some action to comply with the rule by updating agreements and/or notifying employees of their rights under the rule, but the SEC found the actions to be incomplete or inconsistent. The actions also emphasize the importance of company remedial actions as a potential means to minimize penalties. Companies are advised to review their existing agreements to confirm whether action is needed to comply with the SEC rules.
The SEC’s whistleblower protection rule, Rule 21F-17 under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, prohibits any person from taking any action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the SEC about a possible securities law violation, including enforcing or threatening to enforce a confidentiality agreement related to such communications. The SEC brought a number of enforcement actions in the years following the rule’s 2011 adoption, and many companies modified their agreements as a result. Generally, the updated...
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has claimed that a viral comment linked to an X account attributed to its chairman was posted before the original pro-APC post it was respondin...