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Proskauer Whistleblower Defense

July 2021 Update of the SEC’s Covered Actions for Potential Whistleblower Claims

By Rina Kim

September 7, 2021

On July 30, 2021, the SEC posted 14 Notices of Covered Actions, after which individuals have 90 calendar days to apply for a whistleblower award. As discussed in our prior post, the SEC publishes these Notices for cases in which the final judgment or order, either by itself or together with other prior judgments or orders in the same action issued after July 21, 2010, results in monetary sanctions exceeding $1 million. In this…

Proskauer Whistleblower Defense

SEC Alleges Employer’s Compliance Manual Violates Rule 21F-17

By Steven J. Pearlman, Pinchos Goldberg & Scott Tan

August 11, 2021

On June 23, 2021, the SEC announced that Guggenheim Securities, LLC (“Company”) agreed to settle charges that it violated Rule 21F-17 by including language in its compliance manual and training materials that allegedly prohibited employees from contacting regulators without prior Company approval. Without admitting or denying the findings in the SEC’s order, the Company consented to a cease-and-desist order, a censure, and a civil penalty of $208,912. Rule 21F-17, which was adopted by the…

Proskauer Whistleblower Defense

CA Federal Court Dismisses Whistleblower Claims After Bench Trial

By Steven J. Pearlman, Pinchos Goldberg & Jordan Glassberg

August 10, 2021

On July 26, 2021, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California held, after a bench trial, that Plaintiff Botta failed to prove that Defendant PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”) terminated his employment in retaliation for his filing of a complaint with the SEC, and dismissed his whistleblower claims brought under SOX and California law. Botta v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, No. 18-cv-02615. Background Plaintiff was an auditor at PwC for nearly two decades. In…

Proskauer Whistleblower Defense

SDNY: SOX Whistleblower Protections Extend to Investors

By Steven J. Pearlman, Pinchos Goldberg & Thomas B. Fiascone

August 6, 2021

On July 21, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that the whistleblower protections established in SOX are not restricted to employee whistleblowers, but also extend to shareholders. SEC v. Collector’s Coffee Inc., No. 19-cv-4355. Background As we previously reported, in 2019 the SEC sued online auction portal Collectors Coffee and its CEO, alleging in an amended complaint that the CEO attempted to prevent investors from communicating…

Proskauer Whistleblower Defense

June 2021 Update of the SEC’s Covered Actions for Potential Whistleblower Claims

By Rina Kim

July 28, 2021

On June 30, 2021, the SEC posted six Notices of Covered Actions, for which individuals have 90 calendar days to apply for a whistleblower award. As discussed in our prior post, the SEC publishes Notices for cases in which the final judgment or order, by itself or together with other prior judgments or orders in the same action issued after July 21, 2010, results in monetary sanctions exceeding $1 million. In this post, we…

Proskauer Whistleblower Defense

OSHA’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard Contains Anti-Retaliation Provision

By Lloyd B. Chinn, Pinchos Goldberg & Scott Tan

July 26, 2021

On June 21, 2021, OSHA’s much-anticipated Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) on COVID-19 protections went into effect. While Proskauer’s Law and the Workplace blog covered the ETS in detail here, this post focuses on the anti-retaliation provision in the ETS. Anti-Retaliation Provision The ETS, which applies only to the health-care sector, contains an anti-retaliation provision prohibiting employers from discharging or discriminating against employees for exercising their rights and obligations relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. This…

Proskauer Whistleblower Defense

Review of the SEC Whistleblower Program: At the Crossroads of Securities Law and Whistleblower Protection

By Rina Kim

May 26, 2021

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Fiscal year 2020 marked the ten-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act establishing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program. Since its inception through the end of FY2020, the SEC has awarded approximately $562 million to 106 individuals. Even a decade after it was created, the whistleblower program continues to break its own records; in 2020, the SEC issued several awards landing in the top 10 whistleblower awards of all…

Proskauer Whistleblower Defense

SEC Awards Four Whistleblowers More Than $31 Million

By Steven J. Pearlman & Pinchos Goldberg

May 20, 2021

On May 17, 2021, the SEC announced payment of more than $31 million to four whistleblowers who provided the SEC with information that resulted in the return of tens of millions of dollars to harmed investors. The largest of the awards, totaling almost $27 million, was awarded to two joint whistleblowers who provided the SEC with new information and assisted with an existing investigation. The second order included awards of approximately $3.75 million and $750,000…

Proskauer Whistleblower Defense

M.D. Pennsylvania Grants Summary Judgment on SOX Retaliation Claim

By Steven J. Pearlman, Pinchos Goldberg & Shanice Z. Smith-Banks

May 14, 2021

On April 12, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on a SOX whistleblower retaliation claim, holding that the company demonstrated that it would have terminated Plaintiff’s employment even in the absence of any alleged protected activity as part of a broad reduction-in-force (RIF). Wickens v. Rite Aid Hdqtrs. Corp., No. 19-cv-02021. Background Plaintiff, a former in-house attorney at the company, allegedly learned…

Proskauer Whistleblower Defense

SEC Awards $22 Million to Two Whistleblowers

By Steven J. Pearlman & Pinchos Goldberg

May 12, 2021

On May 10, 2021, the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower announced multi-million dollar awards to two whistleblowers who provided the SEC with information that assisted the agency in bringing a successful enforcement action against a financial services firm. (The order granting the awards can be accessed here.) The larger of the two awards, $18 million, was awarded to the whistleblower who was the initial source of the information that prompted the SEC’s investigation. The…

Proskauer Whistleblower Defense

Blog Authors

July 2021 Update of the SEC’s Covered Actions for Potential Whistleblower Claims

SEC Alleges Employer’s Compliance Manual Violates Rule 21F-17

CA Federal Court Dismisses Whistleblower Claims After Bench Trial

SDNY: SOX Whistleblower Protections Extend to Investors

June 2021 Update of the SEC’s Covered Actions for Potential Whistleblower Claims

OSHA’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard Contains Anti-Retaliation Provision

Review of the SEC Whistleblower Program: At the Crossroads of Securities Law and Whistleblower Protection

SEC Awards Four Whistleblowers More Than $31 Million

M.D. Pennsylvania Grants Summary Judgment on SOX Retaliation Claim

SEC Awards $22 Million to Two Whistleblowers

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