An Intro to Whistleblower Laws and Why Trial Lawyers Should be Paying Attention
In 2010 Congress passed The SEC whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. §78u-6 et seq., providing bounties of 10% to 30% of the government’s recovery to whistleblowers whose complaints to the SEC about securities fraud and foreign corrupt practices result in SEC sanctions totaling $1 million or more. Older but little-used laws, the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”), 12 U.S.C. §1833a et seq., and the Financial Institutions Anti-Fraud Enforcement Act of 1990 (“FIAFEA”), 12 U.S.C. §4201 et seq., also provide bounties of 5% to 30% and contingency fees on the government’s recovery in frauds that affect federally-insured financial institutions. This paper provides an introduction to all of these laws and explains why trial lawyers should be paying attention to them. Read more…
