SEC

SEC Exposes Whistleblower: Inadvertent? STOP IT!!

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Larry Doyle – April 25, 2012

News this morning that an SEC attorney, in the midst of an investigation, blew the cover of a whistleblower might have been formerly thought of as inadvertent or unfortunate. America is no longer so naive.

SEC Kowtows to Fortune 500, Whistleblower Says

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Matt Reynolds – April 27, 2012

The SEC allows the nation's richest firms and financial institutions - and only the biggest and richest firms - to handpick the lawyers investigating them for corruption, a whistleblower claims in Federal Court.

Rodolfo Michelon claims that the SEC runs an exclusive "outsourcing program" for Wall Street, neutering incentives and protections for whistleblowers under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Bill Gates jumps into fray over SEC oil transparency rule

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Ben Geman - February 15, 2012

Bill Gates is pressing the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue strong rules that force oil and mining companies to disclose payments to foreign governments, arguing that exemptions energy producers are seeking would defeat the measure’s intent.

“I feel it is critical to ensure the final rules for this provision are strong and robust and in keeping with the intentions of Congress,” writes the billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft founder in a letter obtained by The Hill.

US Combating Crime in the Workplace

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Heide B. Malhotra – January 17, 2012

In August 2011, the revised U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) whistleblower program came into effect, a program for which final rules were issued on May 24, 2011. The SEC was granted authority under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act to provide financial rewards to whistleblowers when provided with new and relevant information regarding security laws violations.

“Eligible whistleblowers are entitled to an award equal to 10 to 30 percent of the money recovered when they voluntarily provide us with original information that leads to a monetary sanction greater than $1 million in a Commission enforcement action,” according to the SEC Whistleblower Provisions of Section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, published on the SEC website.

SEC receives 332 whistleblower complaints in seven weeks

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Samuel Rubenfeld – November 16, 2011

According to a report from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the commission’s Office of the Whistleblower received 334 complaints in the first seven weeks of a new program created under the Dodd-Frank Act. The report tracked tips from Aug. 12, when the rules governing the program went into effect, to Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

The SEC’s program, rules for which were finalized in May, awards informants from a minimum 10% to a maximum 30% of monetary sanctions for reporting allegations of securities violations — if the penalty in the case is more than $1 million and the SEC determines the tip was original information that led to the enforcement action.

SEC targets low-level bankers, spares top execs

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Aruna Viswanatha – November 15, 2011

The U.S. government is not taking advantage of an enforcement tool that could potentially hold top Wall Street figures accountable for their role in the recent financial crisis, despite its prior success.

Broker-dealers, investment advisers, and others regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission are required to supervise their representatives. If a trader engages in misconduct, the SEC can sue the management with "failure to supervise."

Judge Critical of SEC Practices

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Peter Lattman – October 20, 2011

It is boilerplate language found in nearly every settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission: A company resolves its case “without admitting or denying” wrongdoing.

There it was again in the S.E.C.’s announcement on Wednesday that Citigroup had agreed to pay $285 million to settle a civil complaint that it had defrauded investors in a mortgage securities deal. The bank did so “without admitting or denying” the government’s accusations.

Judge questions SEC settlement with Citigroup

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David S. Hilzenrath – October 27, 2011

A federal judge is trying to determine whether the Securities and Exchange Commission is letting Citigroup off the hook too easily for allegedly misleading investors about a $1 billion investment it sold in 2007 tied to the collapsing housing market.

Judge Jed S. Rakoff issued an order Thursday calling for the SEC and Citigroup to defend the settlement they recently negotiated, and he posed a series of questions. Among them:

Where Ombudsmen And Whistleblowers Meet

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Michael Volkov – September 20, 2011

If you listen closely, you can hear the growing avalanche of whistleblower complaints. Unlike the pre-UK Bribery Act hysteria, business concerns about a significant rise in whistleblower complaints are legitimate. Whether there will be 30,000 complaints filed annually with the SEC is hard to predict. Even if the number of complaints filed is less than 30,000, companies need to prepare.

Much has been written lately about how to make internal reporting more attractive to whistleblowers. Under the current rules, whistleblowers have to file a complaint with a company and wait 120 days before going to the SEC. There are a few exceptions to the general rule.

Review: "Chasing Madoff": A hero by the numbers

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Linda Barnard, Movies Writer – August 25, 2011

As the lights came up in the Varsity theatre after Chasing Madoff, the opening night film at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival in May, a tall man in a rumpled tan jacket stood in front of the screen and uncomfortably received a standing ovation from the packed theatre.

The audience had just finished watching a story about him, Harry Markopolos, someone who could be described as the world’s most tenacious man. The 54-year-old Boston accountant and financial investigator spent 10 years struggling to make the U.S. government hear and act on his assertion that Bernie Madoff was a crook and running a Ponzi scheme to defraud investors.

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