The National Law Journal quotes Phillips & Cohen partner Sean McKessy in its coverage of the SEC’s adoption of new whistleblower program rules and the SEC’s decision that it may reduce whistleblower awards when it considers them to be too large.
Phillips & Cohen partner Sean McKessy, who stepped down in 2016 as the first chief of the SEC’s whistleblower program, described the commission’s rollout of the changes as “slick.”
“The spin is just remarkable,” McKessy said. “Overall, this is a net-negative for whistleblowers. Even though it’s spun as providing more transparency and clarity, it does none of those things.”
McKessy said the SEC’s assertion of authority to lower awards was “actually more nefarious than what they proposed to do in the first place,” because the 2018 proposal came with a $30 million floor for the largest awards.“Now, we have all of the worst of the proposal and none of the ‘best,’” McKessy said.
Read the entirely article, “‘A Sleight of Hand’: Whistleblower Lawyers Recoil at SEC’s New Rules,” on The National Law Journal’s website.