Leading Whistleblower Lawyer Quoted About Award to Compliance Professionals
An article in Law 360 titled Big Awards Pushing Compliance Pros To Be Whistleblowers discusses the impact of the SEC’s award of approximately $1.5M to a compliance officer. The article reports that both defense counsel and whistleblower counsel have seen an uptick in whistleblower complaints brought by internal audit and compliance personnel.
In the article, leading whistleblower lawyer Jason Zuckerman notes that this substantial award to a compliance officer and prior SEC whistleblower awards to internal audit and accounting personnel show that compliance programs in some companies are ineffective. According to the SEC’s press release, the “compliance officer reported misconduct after responsible management at the entity became aware of potentially impending harm to investors and failed to take steps to prevent it.” Similarly, a July 2014 SEC press release announcing a $400,000 award notes that the whistleblower did “everything feasible to correct the issue internally” before turning to the SEC.
SEC Whistleblower Protections for Compliance Professionals
Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower Protection for Compliance Professionals at Public Companies
The whistleblower protection provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act provides robust protection to corporate whistleblowers, including compliance professionals.
On the fifteenth anniversary of SOX, leading whistleblower law firm Zuckerman Law released a free guide to the SOX whistleblower protection law: “Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower Protection: Robust Protection for Corporate Whistleblowers.” The guide summarizes SOX whistleblower protections and offers concrete tips for corporate whistleblowers based on lessons learned during years of litigating SOX whistleblower cases.
The goal of the guide is to arm corporate whistleblowers with the knowledge to effectively combat whistleblower retaliation, avoid the pitfalls that can weaken a SOX whistleblower case, and formulate an effective strategy to obtain the maximum recovery.
SEC Whistleblower Rewards for Compliance Professinals
