SEC ADOPTS NEW RULES PROVIDING FINANCIAL INCENTIVES FOR WHISTLEBLOWERS ON WALL STREET
The SEC adopted new regulations today, that entitle whistleblowers in financial firms to receive between 10 to 30% of the amount recovered by the SEC through enforcement actions whistleblowers who voluntarily provides the SEC with “original information that leads to a successful enforcement action yielding monetary sanctions of over $1 million.” The new rules were adopted in response to Congress’, President Obama’s and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’s mandate for the SEC to create financial incentives for Wall Street employees to uncover fraud internally.
The adoption of these new rules and the creation of financial incentives for whistleblowers will greatly benefit financial firms and employees with integrity, the investing public, and the entire regulatory community. Mary Shapiro, former Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) CEO and now chairperson of the SEC, stated: “For an agency with limited resources like the SEC, I believe it is critical to be able to leverage the resources of people who may have first-hand information about potential violations…” With regards to the new rules potential impact on investors she stated, “it is especially important to investors whose savings or retirement funds may hinge on our ability to stop an ongoing fraud or obtain hidden evidence…”
For information concerning the whistleblower program, contact Napoli Bern Ripka & Associates, LLP or visit the following link: http://sec.gov/spotlight/dodd-frank/whistleblower.shtml.
