July 06, 2009
In an letter to the Financial Times, attorney Erika Kelton says that the proposed bounty program for SEC whistleblowers could be more effective.
Kelton, a partner at Phillips & Cohen LLP, recommends that the program include an “action-forcing mechanism.” Under the False Claims Act, the Department of Justice is required to decide with a specified time whether or not it will intervene in a qui tam action. Without such a mechanism, Kelton says, the SEC bounty program will be less effective.