“[T]he question we face today is not whether insider trading is rampant but whether corrupt corporate culture is.” That is the assessment of the top prosecutor of Wall Street crime, U.S. Attorney Preet Bhara. There is no question that insider trading is rampant; that fact has been amply demonstrated, says Bhara. The larger and “most […]
A U.S. federal district court issued a ruling strengthening corporate whistleblower protections. The court held that the Dodd-Frank financial reform act provides protection to employees of subsidiaries as well as those who work directly for the parent companies, and that the protection applies retroactively to cases that predate the enactment of Dodd-Frank.
The Securities and Exchange Commission will soon pay out $452 million to whistleblowers across the country, according to a New York Post article, “SEC set to hand out up to $452M to whistleblowers.” The SEC’s whistleblower program recently marked its first anniversary. Whistleblowers can collect from 10 percent to 30 percent of what the government […]
A non-partisan group has determined that corporate objections to the new securities whistleblower program are unfounded. The Dodd-Frank Act instituted a policy that rewards employees for revealing illegal companies practices to regulators. This policy offers the whistleblowers rewards of 10-30 percent of SEC penalties greater than $1 million. Additionally, whistleblowers can remain anonymous if they […]
The Securities and Exchange Commission is busy handling a deluge of whistleblower tips. An average of 7 tips per day has forced the SEC to triage the tips. Whistleblowers stand to receive substantial monetary awards for tips that lead to successful SEC action (“SEC Enforcement Division Buried in Whistleblower Tips,” by Ian Thoms, Law360). In […]
According to a whistleblower lawsuit filed recently, J.P. Morgan Chase’s credit card services division sold nearly $200 million worth of supposed credit card judgments to collection agents. Each judgment was represented by Chase to be an enforceable court order against a Chase credit card holder to pay a certain amount of debt owed. But many […]
Could Wall Street’s role in creating the recent financial crisis boil down to something as simple as a conditioned reflex? Apparently so, according to William D. Cohan, a former investment banker. Cohen writes: Wall Street “rewards bankers and traders for the revenue they generate by constantly selling whatever comes across their desks, regardless of its […]
Just when you think you could not become more cynical, Citigroup comes along and throws an award ceremony honoring employees who concealed evidence of mortgage fraud from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). To make matters worse, the ceremony occurred in January 2011, long after “too-big-to-fail” Citigroup received $45 billion in taxpayer bailout money (the most […]
What’s the difference between a Wall Street bank and a whistleblower? Nothing! While Wall Street railed against whistleblower protections for employees in Dodd-Frank, turns out they are falling all over themselves to blow the whistle on each other. Why? Because the first to tattle gets protections that are not offered to the second to tattle. […]
Congratulations to whistleblower Sherry Hunt of Silex, Missouri, a vice president of quality assurance at CitiMortgage, who will receive approximately $31.7 million or 20 percent of the $158.3 million that Citigroup agreed to pay to settle a False Claims Act suit involving mortgage fraud filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. It is the second-largest […]
