Whistleblowers Eligible for Hundreds of Millions in Rewards
Washington, D.C. October 30, 2011. The SEC is offering awards for employees who submitted information about 220 companies brought to justice earlier this year. However, with only days remaining before the November 10, 2011 deadline to claim awards, the SEC has not yet heard from most eligible employee whistleblowers.
Employee reports about the companies have resulted in the recovery
of billions of dollars for the federal government. The reports were made
over the past several years both to the SEC and to companies' internal
compliance programs.
The National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) is deeply concerned that an
overwhelming majority of eligible whistleblowers do not know about the
award program or the deadline. NWC Executive Director Stephen M. Kohn
issued the following statement:
The SEC reward program is entering into a critical phase. The commission
has published a list of companies that have paid sanctions over $1
million and for which whistleblowers can claim a reward. However, the
NWC remains concerned that most whistleblowers are unaware of their
eligibility and that the window of opportunity for filing a claim is
very short. The failure to meet the November 10, 2011, deadline will
result in automatic disqualification for any reward, regardless of the
whistleblower's contribution to the public interest.
The list of 220 companies with eligible employees includes Regions Bank,
Dell Inc., Qwest Communications, BNY Mellon Securities, Citigroup, J.P.
Morgan UBS Financial Services, and the Universal Corporation.
Also on the list are companies that violated the Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act (FCPA), such as Tyson Foods, General Electric, Johnson
& Johnson, Royal Dutch Shell, and RAE Systems.
A full list of companies is posted here.
On Tuesday, November 1, 2011, at 1:00pm, Mr. Kohn will discuss the SEC
award program and the implications of its upcoming deadline live on Honesty Without Fear on the Progressive Radio Network.
The National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) sister organization the
National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund may be able to
help whistleblowers looking for helping reporting fraud to the SEC find
an attorney through the confidential Attorney Referral Service.
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