SEC whistleblower program – articles
“Firms face sudden rush of whistleblower claims,” Corporate Counsel, 9/9/10.
“. . . Erika Kelton, partner at the plaintiffs' powerhouse Phillips & Cohen in Washington, D.C., agreed that the outpouring [of SEC whistleblowers] is huge. . . . Kelton was the lead attorney for a whistleblower suit against Pfizer Inc., which paid a record-setting $2.3 billion in mid-2009 to settle civil and criminal charges for using illegal sales tactics.”
“Larger bounties spur surge in fraud tips,” Wall Street Journal, 9/7/10.
“The SEC is offering some protections for informants. . . . These features, combined with the guaranteed minimum payout for whistle-blowers who qualify, are encouraging insiders to step forward, said Erika Kelton of Phillips & Cohen LLP.”
“SEC Now Offering Big Payoffs To Whistle-Blowers,” Time, 8/19/10.
“Money can be ‘extraordinarily effective’ in getting people to blow the whistle when they see fraud, says John Phillips, whose law firm Phillips & Cohen LLP specializes in whistleblower cases.”
“In the past, the SEC's whistleblowing program was limited to insider trading cases and offered only small discretionary, rather than mandatory, rewards ranging from 0 to 10% of the money recovered. ‘It was completely ineffectual, completely discretionary,’ says Phillips.”
“Financial crime whistleblowers to be rewarded,” The Daily Transcript, 7/10/10.
“ ‘The SEC whistleblower provisions will be an extremely effective enforcement tool that will have an immediate impact, probably far quicker than any other aspect of the financial reform legislation,’ said attorney Erika Kelton with Phillips & Cohen.”
“Financial reform law includes big cash incentives for whistle-blowers,” Los Angeles Times, 7/23/10.
“The new SEC whistleblower program ‘is very significant and will have an immediate impact,’ said Erika Kelton, a Washington lawyer who has represented whistle-blowers. ‘It will motivate knowledgeable insiders to step forward and tell the enforcement agencies what they know. It is the secret weapon in this massive bill.’
“Goldman Sachs recently agreed to pay $550 million to settle a suit brought by the SEC accusing the investment banking firm of misleading investors who bought mortgage-backed securities just as the housing market collapsed. Had the case arisen from a whistle-blower's tip under the new law, ‘it would mean at least $55 million for the whistle-blower,’ Kelton said.”
