The Securities and Exchange Commission’s chief of the Office of the Whistleblower paid out over half a billion dollars in whistleblower awards in 2021—more than any other federal agency. This compelling financial incentive resulted in more than 12,200 whistleblower tips in 2021, nearly doubling the previous year’s number, but it also resulted in numerous baseless and even bad faith tips.
Indeed, a week after announcing that the SEC’s whistleblower program had paid out record-breaking awards, the commission announced that it had banned two individuals from the program, each of whom had filed hundreds of frivolous claims and award applications.
The problem of bad faith whistleblowers is not limited to the SEC. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s whistleblower statistics, in 2020, nearly three-quarters of the whistleblower reports submitted to OSHA were either dismissed or withdrawn.
It is laudable that the SEC has taken some limited proactive steps to curb bad faith tipsters, but many public companies and senior officers still find themselves under investigation for events that never happened or were...
Rep. Eric Swalwell on Friday forcefully denied allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, saying in a public statement and a video posted to social media that the claims are false and politicall...