Doug Cornelius on compliance for private equity real estate
The Denver office of the Securities and Exchange Commission has rolled up a bunch more whistleblower rule violations. This follows up with last week’s settlement with Nationwide Planning for impeding clients from reporting violations to the SEC. In response to a Congressional mandate in Dodd-Frank, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted Rule 21F-17 in August 2011, which … Read more »
In response to a Congressional mandate in Dodd-Frank, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted Rule 21F-17 in August 2011, which provides: (a) No person may take any action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation, including enforcing, or threatening to enforce, a confidentiality agreement . . . … Read more »
For the second week in a row, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought a “pre-taliation” charge against a company for bad provisions in its employee separation agreements. This time it was the real estate company CBRE that had a bad provision. In response to a Congressional mandate in Dodd-Frank, the SEC adopted Rule 21F-17 in August 2011, … Read more »
In response to a Congressional mandate in Dodd-Frank, the SEC adopted Rule 21F-17 in August 2011, which provides: (a) No person may take any action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation, including enforcing, or threatening to enforce, a confidentiality agreement . . . with respect to … Read more »
Section 924(d) of Dodd-Frank requires the Securities and Exchange Commissions Office of the Whistleblower to report annually to Congress on Office’s activities, whistleblower complaints received, and the response of the SEC to those complaints. In addition, Section 21F(g)(5) of the Exchange Act requires the SEC to submit an annual report to Congress. The SEC published … Read more »
In response to Dodd-Frank, the SEC adopted Rule 21F-17 in August 2011, which provides: (a) No person may take any action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation, including enforcing, or threatening to enforce, a confidentiality agreement . . . with respect to such communications. I have … Read more »
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced awards totalling $50 million to whistleblowers who brought high-quality information to the SEC and assisted in bringing a successful enforcement action. As with all whistleblower awards, the order is heavily redacted as to the company involved, what happened, and when it happened. I’m not sure I can identify which … Read more »
In 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission opened its doors to the professional whistleblower when it first granted a whistleblower award to a company outsider. It’s becoming more lucrative. Last week the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced an award of approximately $30 million to a whistleblower who voluntarily provided key original information that led to a successful … Read more »
Seven years ago the Securities and Exchange Commission opened its Office of the Whistleblower under the authorization of the Dodd-Frank Act. Since then the SEC has received over 22,000 whistleblower tips, obtained over $1.4 billion in financial remedies related to those tips, and ordered over $266 million in whistleblower awards to 55 individuals. Now, the SEC wants … Read more »
The Supreme Court just decided a case that limits the whistleblower anti-retaliation provisions in Dodd-Frank. The Court handed down its decision in Digital Realty Trust v. Somers. Dodd-Frank defines “whistleblower” as a person who provides “information relating to a violation of the securities laws to the Securities and Commission.” 15 U. S. C. §78u–6(a)(6). A … Read more »