New York, NYAfter nearly seven years in court, Trevor Murray prevailed in his whistleblower lawsuit against UBS Securities, his former employer. The latest flurry of activity is an after-the-fact attempt by UBS’s attorneys to reduce the firm’s financial liability. No harm, no foul. It’s simply what diligent lawyers try to do.
But the top line for employees who see what they believe is legal wrongdoing at work remains the same. Employees are protected from retaliation for acting in good faith with federal authorities to protect the interests of the public. Murray’s story relates to one particular area of federal securities laws, but it illustrates a larger point.
Murray actually had two employment stints at UBS. The first lasted from about May 2007 to September 2009. At the time, he focused on commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). He was let go in a reduction in force prompted by the 2008 financial crisis. He went back to work for UBS in 2011.
The second time around, he worked as a CMBS Strategist within the Mortgage Strategy Group. He wrote research articles about the CMBS market and dealt with clients. His job, as he understood it, was to produce actionable information. However, he came to believe that he was being pressured to misrepresent his research in order to support UBS’s business priorities.
He was fired in 2012. He complained that he was fired for whistleblowing to his...
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