How the New CFTC Whistleblower Rules Will Operate
When the CFTC announced its final whistleblower rules yesterday, it answered many questions about how the new CFTC whistleblower program will work. David Meister, the CFTC’s Director of the Division of Enforcement, provided this summary according to the unofficial transcript our firm prepared of yesterday’s CFTC public meeting: The Commission will pay awards to eligible […]
CFTC Announces Final Whistleblower Rules, Rejects “Mandatory Internal Reporting” by Whistleblowers
The final whistleblower rules of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are being announced now at a CFTC open meeting. Like the SEC, the CFTC has rejected any provision that whistleblowers be required first to report internally the violations in question, but will treat internal reporting as a “positive” consideration in its awards. The alternative […]
Qui Tam Whistleblower Cases Produced $97 Million in Recoveries After Being Declined by Justice Department
When qui tam whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act are “declined” by the Department of Justice, the whistleblower or “relator” is authorized to pursue the case on the government’s behalf. The DOJ statistics below show that these declined cases have generated more than $97 million in recoveries for taxpayers since 1987, the year after […]
Former Credit Suisse Officials Indicted For Assisting U.S. Taxpayers Evade Taxes Since 1953
The IRS emphasis on international and offshore tax violations continues. Today, the government made clear that U.S. prosecutions for cross-border tax evasion did not end with the 2009 landmark UBS settlement, which followed a tax whistleblower’s approaching U.S officials. The Justice Department announced today that three more former Credit Suisse bankers have been indicted for […]
Progress with Dodd-Frank’s Whistleblower Programs: CFTC and SEC Working to Deter the Next Big Schemes to Harm Investing Public
Too often missing in today’s discussions of Dodd-Frank’s one-year anniversary is appreciation of efforts by CFTC and SEC leadership to build from scratch the effective new whistleblower programs mandated by Dodd-Frank. With scant resources, each agency is creating an essential mechanism to protect today’s investors from the next fraudulent scheme. Let’s start with the CFTC. […]
SEC Charges FCPA Bribery Scheme–Feds Collect $15 Million
The SEC Whistleblower Program encompasses not only classic securities violations, but also violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), a topic we have followed closely. This past week, the SEC filed and settled an FCPA case against Armor Holdings, Inc., and collected more than $5.6 million, while the Department of Justice added almost $10.3 […]
Why the SEC Whistleblower Rules Show A New Seriousness About Using Valuable Whistleblower Information
The suspense over the final SEC whistleblower rules ended with the SEC’s release of its final whistleblower rules last week. The CFTC is to follow suit soon in announcing its own commodities whistleblower rules. We have followed the SEC rules’ development, after being part of the small group of pro-whistleblower attorneys who met with the […]
Fraud Enforcement Adds Teeth by Pursuing Individuals Allegedly Responsible for Organizations’ Frauds
Last week the government’s criminal trial of former GlaxoSmithKline vice president and associate general counsel Lauren Stevens ended abruptly, as the judge found no basis to allow the case to go to a jury. Prosecutors had charged that she obstructed justice and made false statements to cover up the company’s improper marketing of the antidepressant […]
New Supreme Court False Claims Act Decision Today: Could This Court Be Any Friendlier to Qui Tam Defendants?
False Claims Act history repeated itself today. Since Congress acted decisively in 1986 to breathe life into the False Claims Act through amendments intended to expand use of the nation’s major anti-fraud whistleblower law, the Supreme Court and some lower courts have regularly intervened by imposing their own views on what Congress must have meant […]
Tax Whistleblower Attorneys At IRS Hearing Urge Treasury and IRS to Be True to Congress’s Intent in Expanding the IRS Whistleblower Program
As has been reported today in Tax Notes and CCH, my colleague Richard Rubin and I addressed the IRS at its hearing yesterday on the proposed IRS Whistleblower rules. We were able to speak for roughly one-third of the hearing. We focused on fundamentals. We urged that Treasury and the IRS must stay true to […]