Phillips & Cohen partner Sean McKessy provides the historical context and key features about the SEC’s whistleblower program and reports on its successes in an article for the Journal of Financial Compliance. Read the abstract below:
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) whistleblower programme has become one of the most effective tools for enforcing US securities law. This paper provides the historical context that led to the creation of the programme, outlines its main features, and reports on its overall effectiveness and results. In addition, the legal and practical challenges faced by the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, which takes the lead in evaluating whistleblower submissions, are examined and some solutions to these challenges are proposed. Lastly, the paper provides practical advice and do’s and do not’s for companies and their internal compliance and audit employees to implement common-sense policies and procedures to address the very real possibility that, because of a US Supreme Court decision two years ago, their employees may be incentivised to report directly to the SEC rather than through internal compliance mechanisms.
Read the full article, “The power of the US SEC whistleblower programme: What compliance and regulatory professionals should know,” on the Journal of Financial Compliance website. (Subscription required.)