Help Protect Financial Whistleblowers!

Whistleblower supporters are painfully aware that bank fraud on Wall Street has the power to sink the world’s economy. As GAP President Louis Clark writes in this blog post, despite significant protections advanced by the Dodd-Frank Act, financial whistleblowers often face legal repercussions for revealing corporate secrets.
Corporations are finding new ways to silence potential whistleblowers. One common method is to intimidate employees into signing nondisclosure agreements – gag-orders – that run afoul of whistleblower laws. Another tactic is to threaten legal action against employees who expose wrongdoing.

Earlier this week, to fight on behalf of the rights of corporate whistleblowers, GAP launched a petition to SEC Chair Mary Jo White urging the agency to clarify and strengthen its Whistleblower Program.

Wall Street Journal: SEC Turns Over Whistleblower Tip to Defense Attorneys

Yesterday, under order from a judge, the SEC handed over an anonymous whistleblower’s tip to lawyers for a hedge fund accused of wrongdoing. The SEC sued the hedge fund firm in 2012 for allegedly overvaluing investments. The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 mentions that, in certain situations, the SEC may have to turn over whistleblower information.

Key Quote: “The document the agency provided didn’t reveal the tipster’s identity but did specify the person’s attorney, Motley Rice LLC lawyer Rebecca Katz, according to a person familiar with the matter. The SEC didn’t tell Ms. Katz that it had turned over the document until this week, according to another person familiar with the matter. 

New Jersey Star-Ledger: PETA – Princeton University Researchers, Students Tormented Monkey in Plastic Exercise Ball

An anonymous whistleblower relayed to PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – that lab employees at Princeton University tormented a young monkey by rolling it down the halls in a plastic exercise ball. PETA filed complaints against the university earlier this week.

 

Ross Cohen-Kristiansen is a Communications Intern for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.