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“Whistleblower advocates up in arms over changes to SEC program”

Phillips & Cohen partner Sean McKessy condemns recently adopted changes to the SEC whistleblower program in a Compliance Week article examining the response to the program’s new rules.

Sean McKessy, now a partner at the firm Phillips & Cohen and the founding chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower under President Barack Obama, called the amendments “a net negative for whistleblowers and the people who represent them.” The agency’s take on reducing large awards gives the SEC a power that’s not in the statute, McKessy said.

“This reinterpretation is contrary to the statute and injects a level of uncertainty in how the awards will be assessed, which will act as a disincentive for some whistleblowers from coming forward. It is also inconsistent with how claims were processed while I was chief of the Office of the Whistleblower,” he said.

Read the entire article, “Whistleblower advocates up in arms over changes to SEC program,” on Compliance Week’s website.

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