This article is the second in the WNN series investigating FOIA documents from the SEC about the agency’s whistleblower program. The first article outlined Big Law’s newfound involvement in the SEC program. Read it here.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Whistleblower Network News and the National Whistleblower Center (NWC), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released the 1034 pages of documents that served as the basis for recent articles attacking the SEC Whistleblower Program.
In July and August, Bloomberg Law and University of Kansas Professor Alexander Platt published separate articles critiquing the SEC’s highly successful whistleblower award program. Bloomberg and Platt claimed that the documents released by the SEC in response to their FOIA requests revealed that the program is shrouded in secrecy and favors a small group of law firms with connections to the agency.
WNN’s investigation into the FOIA documents reveals that these allegations unfairly criticize the Commission’s whistleblower program.
“The documents demonstrate that the SEC carefully processed numerous whistleblower claims from individuals not represented by attorneys. It also shows that a vast majority of the law firms that successfully represented whistleblowers do not have any former SEC employees on staff,” explained whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn, who represented WNN in the FOIA proceeding.
“Furthermore, the SEC’s extensive cooperation...
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