ABB, Honeywell, AT&T – Over $500 Million in SEC Fines in January
At the end of every month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) publishes a Notice of Covered Action for recent fines in excess of one million dollars. There were seven notices issued in January for over $500 in fines, the headlines were: Honeywell pays over $161 million for bribery schemes in Algeria and Brazil ABB […]
What UK Employment Lawyers Need to Know about SEC Whistleblowers
In the last ten years the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), has paid out over $1 billion in rewards to whistleblowers and levied over $6 billion in fines resulting from whistleblower tips. Some of these fines have been against UK companies and this is not surprising. The UK ranks as one of the top […]
How To Handle Whistleblower Complaints – Corporate Tips
Article by John Peterson, Managing Attorney, FBR, with contributions from corporate leaders Emily Cooper, Olivia Tan, Fahran Advani and David Reid. In 2023, the SEC revealed in its annual report that it received over 12,000 tips from whistleblowers, which brings the total tips received by the SEC to over 50,000. We often talk about […]
Why Public Companies Need to Incentivize Whistleblowers
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower rewards program has prompted over 50,000 tip-offs in the last decade that have led to public companies paying almost $5 billion in fines and penalties. This is an embarrassing and costly state of affairs for some of the world’s most innovative companies, and something needs to change. If public companies want to […]
The Twitter Whistleblower – Everything You Need To Know
It’s been almost a year since Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen burst into public consciousness with her allegations that Facebook magnified hate and discrimination. Haugen filed her grievances with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), testified before Congress and then embarked on a whirlwind media tour highlighting the allegations. Last week, Twitter saw a potentially similar […]
Can Legal, Compliance or Audit Claim SEC Whistleblower Awards?
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) operates an enormously successful whistleblower award program. In just ten years, it has paid out over $1.3 billion to individuals who have helped the SEC prosecute hundreds of legal violations. Most award recipients are regular employees, but a small portion have been legal or compliance personnel. Compliance and audit personnel occupy a […]
SEC Whistleblower Program Rarely Pays Out Compliance Personnel
On July 19th 2022, the SEC paid yet another multi-million dollar whistleblower award under its whistleblower program, bringing the total paid to whistleblowers over $1.3 billion. When the program was introduced over a decade ago, some feared that the program would encourage compliance personnel and lawyers to abuse their positions and report the very clients they represented. However, […]
5 Common Mistakes When Reporting FCPA Violations
Article by John Peterson, Managing Attorney The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is a U.S. law that prohibits bribery. If you’d like to learn more about how to report FCPA violations, feel free to check out our previous posts on reporting FCPA violations here and here. In this post, we will look at some common mistakes people make when reporting FCPA […]
How to Become An FCPA Whistleblower – Five Simple Steps
Article by Managing Attorney, John Peterson If you work at a company that sells products or services outside the U.S., you may have heard of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The FCPA is a law that prohibits paying bribes to foreign government officials (to learn more about FCPA violations read our guide here). If you know of […]
5 Things To Consider Before Blowing The Whistle On Your Employer
Thinking about blowing the whistle on your employer? Learn how FBR can protect your whistleblower anonymity & set you up for success. Talk with an attorney.
