Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC Clients Receive $12 Million Whistleblower Award.

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) awarded $12 million to three whistleblowers who provided crucial information leading to the agency’s enforcement action against a penny stock fraud operation. This high-profile case underscores the SEC’s commitment to combating financial fraud and rewarding those who expose wrongdoing and of Sallah Astarita & Cox in representing SEC whistleblowers.

https://seclaw.com/sallah-astarita-cox-llc-obtains-12-million-whistleblower-award/

SEC Issues Whistleblower Awards Totaling Approximately $10.4 Million

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced awards totaling approximately $10.4 million to several whistleblowers who provided information and assistance in three separate covered actions. In the first order, the SEC issued awards totaling…

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Have a securities law question? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544.

SEC Awards More Than $23 Million to Whistleblowers

The SEC announced awards of approximately $13 million and $10 million to two whistleblowers whose information and assistance led to successful SEC and related actions.  

The whistleblowers’ substantial assistance, provided to the SEC and another federal agency, included submitting information and documents, participating in interviews, and identifying key individuals who engaged in the misconduct at issue.

“The whistleblowers’ information and assistance led to multiple successful enforcement actions related to a complex and fraudulent scheme involving multiple individuals and tens of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains,” said Emily Pasquinelli, Acting Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. “Today’s awards demonstrate the SEC’s continuing commitment to making awards to individuals who provide high-quality information that assists the SEC and other government agencies in bringing successful enforcement actions.”

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The SEC’s whistleblower program was created to incentivize individuals to report high-quality tips to the Commission and assist the agency in its efforts to combat wrongdoing and, as a result, better protect investors and the marketplace. Since the program’s inception ten years ago, whistleblowers have made a significant impact on the Commission’s enforcement efforts and protection of investors. Original information provided by whistleblowers has led to enforcement actions in which the Commission has obtained over $2.5 billion in financial remedies, most of which has been, or is scheduled to be, returned to harmed investors.

Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action. Whistleblower awards can range from 10-30% of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.

As set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that could reveal a whistleblower's identity.

Sallah Astarita & Cox a national securities law firm consisting of broker-dealer and former SEC Attorneys represents SEC whistleblowers across the country. To discuss a potential case with one of their attorneys call 212-509-6544

SEC Awards More Than $4 Million to Whistleblower

The SEC has announced an award of more than $4 million to a whistleblower who alerted SEC staff to certain violations, prompting the opening of an investigation.  The whistleblower who alerted SEC staff to certain violations, prompting the opening of an investigation.  The whistleblower then provided substantial assistance by meeting with SEC staff, identifying key players, and providing additional helpful information and documents.

“Whistleblowers may be uniquely positioned to provide the kind of information and assistance that can prove instrumental to the successful resolution of an enforcement action,” said Emily Pasquinelli, Acting Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.  “Whistleblowers play a critical role in helping the SEC detect securities laws violations and better protect investors.”   

The SEC has now awarded approximately $905 million to 164 individuals since issuing its first award in 2012. All payments are made out of an investor protection fund established by Congress that is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards. Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to successful enforcement action. Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.

Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC represents whistleblowers across the country. To schedule a call with one of their attorneys call 212-509-6544

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Have a securities law question? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544.

SEC Awards More Than $28 Million to Whistleblower Who Aided SEC and Other Agency Actions

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced an award to a whistleblower totaling more than $28 million in connection with an SEC enforcement action and a related action by another federal agency.  The whistleblower’s information caused…

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Think you have a whistleblower claim? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544. Former SEC attorneys representing whistleblowers across the country.

SEC Awards More Than $31 Million to Whistleblowers in Two Enforcement Actions

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced whistleblower awards to four individuals totaling more than $31 million.  In the first order, the SEC awarded almost $27 million to two claimants who provided SEC staff with new information and…

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Have a question about whistleblowers? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544.

SEC Awards Approximately $3.6 Million to Whistleblower

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of approximately $3.6 million to a whistleblower whose information and assistance led to a successful SEC enforcement action.  “The whistleblower brought valuable information to the…

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Have a securities law question? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544.

SEC Awards $22 Million to Two Whistleblowers

The SEC announced awards totaling approximately $22 million to two whistleblowers whose information and assistance was of crucial importance to successful SEC enforcement actions brought against a financial services firm.

The first whistleblower received an award of $18 million, while the second whistleblower received a $4 million award. The larger award was in recognition of the fact that, among other things, the first whistleblower was the initial source of the investigation while the second whistleblower submitted information much later after the investigation was already underway.
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Sallah Astarita & Cox is a national securities law firm that represents investors, financial professionals, and whistleblowers across the country. Have a securities law question? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544.

SEC Awards More Than $3 Million to Whistleblowers in Two Enforcement Actions

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced awards totaling more than $3 million to two whistleblowers in separate enforcement proceedings. In the first order, the SEC awarded approximately $3.2 million to a whistleblower who alerted SEC…

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Have a securities law question? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544.

SEC Awards Over $50 Million to Joint Whistleblowers

The SEC has awarded over $50 million to joint whistleblowers whose information alerted SEC staff to violations that involved highly complex transactions and would have been difficult to detect without their information.

Today’s award is the second largest in the history of the program, reflecting the tremendous contribution of these joint whistleblowers to our ability to recover funds for harmed investors,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. “The SEC has now awarded over a quarter of a billion dollars to whistleblowers in the first seven months of this fiscal year alone, demonstrating the tremendous value of whistleblowers to our enforcement program.

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Representing whistleblowers across the country. Have a securities law question? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544.

SEC Awards Over $500,000 to Whistleblower Under "Safe Harbor" for Internal Reporting and Surpasses Record for Individual Awards

The Securities and Exchange Commission awarded more than $500,000 to a whistleblower who raised concerns internally before submitting a tip to the Commission. The whistleblower's information and assistance allowed the Commission and another agency…

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Have a securities law question? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544.

SEC Issues Over $5 Million to Joint Whistleblowers Located Abroad

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced an award of over $5 million to joint whistleblowers whose tip caused the opening of an investigation that resulted in a successful enforcement action. The whistleblowers provided significant information about misconduct abroad that directly supported certain allegations in the enforcement action.

“The whistleblowers’ information alerted the staff to misconduct occurring abroad which could have been difficult to detect without their tip,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.  “Whistleblowers from 130 different countries have provided tips to the Commission since the beginning of the program, and we hope this award encourages others with credible information to come forward.”

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Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC is a national securities law firm representing whistleblowers across the country. Call 212-509-6544 to review your potential whistleblower claim.

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Have a securities law question? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544.

Disney Cases Spotlights Danger, Roadmap for Whistleblowers

Sallah Astarita & Cox in the news, at Law.com and Daily Business Review: 

Sandra Kuba, a senior financial analyst who has been with The Walt Disney Co. for nearly two decades, reported billions of dollars of alleged financial irregularities, and accused the financial arm of the publicly-traded entity of harassment and retaliation after she spoke out.

And now attorney James Sallah, partner at Sallah, Astarita & Cox in Boca Raton and former senior counsel in the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission in Miami, said if Kuba’s allegations are true, the whistleblower complaint effectively laid out a blueprint to bring these types of cases to court.

James Sallah of Sallah Astarita & Cox, said if true, the allegations in the complaint, specifically of accounting fraud and deficiency of internal controls, could be the basis of federal securities law violations if they made their way into public documents and are known internally to be inaccurate.

Considering a whistleblower complaint? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544 to discuss that claim!

https://www.law.com/dailybusinessreview/2021/02/17/google-her-name-disney-cases-spotlights-danger-roadmap-for-whistleblowers/

Sallah Astarita & Cox $1.8 Million Whistleblower Award

A former South Florida Morgan Stanley Smith Barney broker’s decision to blow the whistle on alleged misconduct has resulted in an almost $1.8 million award from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which said the complaint helped uncover crucial evidence and claw back millions for investors.

Represented by James Sallah of Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC and Scott Silver of Silver Law Group the complaint revolved around a foreign currency trading program called “CitiFX Alpha.” Brokers went on to recommend that clients invest in the program to offshore clients between August 2010 and July 2011, but investors lost millions when it imploded.

The SEC called the former broker’s assistance ”extraordinary” in a press release that said it would have struggled to uncover what it did without the tip.

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The attorneys at Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC include former SEC Staff Attorneys and brokerage firm attorneys. The firm represents investors, financial professionals and whistleblowers across the country in a wide range of securities regulatory and litigation matters. To discuss potential representation, call the firm at 212-509-6544 or email mja@sallahlaw.com

SEC Whistleblower Awarded $900,000 for Reporting Overseas Misconduct

The SEC confirmed the award in an order, finding

we positively assessed the following facts: (i) Claimant provided significant and timely information that resulted in the significant expansion of the staff’s investigation and resulting Commission charges; (ii) Claimant assisted in the staff’s investigation by submitting additional information that helped expedite the investigation; and (iii) there are important law enforcement interests here in that Claimant identified alleged violations that were occurring overseas, some of which would have been difficult to detect in the absence of Claimant’s information.

 

SEC Awards Over $1.6 Million to Whistleblower

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of more than $1.6 million to a whistleblower whose information tipped the agency to securities law violations and helped form part of the basis for charges brought in a successful enforcement action. In addition to the tip, the whistleblower provided helpful assistance early in the investigation, preserving Commission time and resources.


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As set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that could reveal a whistleblower’s identity. For more information about the whistleblower program and for assistance from experienced SEC and whistleblower attorneys, call Sallah Astarita & Cox at 212-509-6544.

Whistleblower Protection Bill Proposed

Washington, DC | September 24, 2019 – Yesterday, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) along with Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced the Whistleblower Programs Improvement Act (S.2529). This important piece of legislation will increase and broaden the scope of protections for securities and commodities fraud whistleblowers as well as rectify backlogs in processing whistleblower rewards. The bill comes on the heels of the similar Whistleblower Protection Reform Act of 2019 (H.R.2515), passed in the House in July by an overwhelming bipartisan majority.

Like the House bill, the Senate bill would effectively reverse the Supreme Court decision in Digital Realty Trust Inc. v. Somers, which interpreted the Dodd-Frank securities fraud law as only protecting whistleblowing to disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), not disclosures to the responsible officials in the whistleblower’s company. According to a report by the Ethics & Compliance Initiative, 97% of corporate employees blow the whistle internally first. NWC filed an amicus brief in support of the whistleblowers who lost protections for internal disclosures in that case and has since been working to rectify this loss with allies in Congress.

Under S. 2529, whistleblowers who come forward with evidence of potential securities and commodities violations are protected from retaliation regardless of whether they report the violations within their companies or to the SEC. The bill also requires applicable federal agencies to respond to the whistleblower’s reward claim within one year. An effective reward program for whistleblowers has been shown to be essential to prosecution of securities and commodities fraud.

National Whistleblower Center founder and board chairman, Stephen Kohn, said, “This bill is absolutely needed. It ensures that SEC claims can be timely decided and that employees who report violations to their employers cannot be fired,” Kohn continued, “For years the NWC has strongly supported the right of employees to engage in internal reporting. We urged the Supreme Court to protect these rights. Unfortunately, the Court listened to the Chamber of Commerce. We need Congress to fix this gaping loophole in corporate whistleblower protections.”

Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center, John Kostyack, stated: “The National Whistleblower Center applauds the four Senators for introducing S.2529. We urge other Senators to help get this critical legislation enacted andso that whistleblowers aware of securities and commodities fraud know that they will be protected and rewarded when they step forward.”


For more information, please contact Nick Younger at nick.younger@whistleblowers.org

$1.8 Million to Whistleblower

The SEC has awarded more than $1.8 million to a whistleblower whose information and assistance were critically important to the success of an enforcement action involving misconduct committed overseas.… 

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Think you have a whistleblower complaint? Call Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC, 212-509-6544

Tesla Whistleblower Claims to be Working with the SEC

In the latest development of the saga of Tesla vs Martin Tripp, the automaker’s former employee being sued for hacking Tesla’s manufacturing software and stealing information, Tripp and his lawyer now claim that they are now working with the SEC, which is reportedly investigating Tesla.

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The attorneys at Sallah Astarita & Cox include veteran securities litigators and former SEC Enforcement Attorneys. We have decades of experience in securities litigations matters, including whistleblower claims.. We represent investors, financial professionals and investment firms, nationwide. For more information call 212-509-6544 or send an email.

Whistleblowers Need Lawyers

There have been many developments in SEC Whistleblower rulings over the years, but none as compelling as Justice Ginsburg's opinion in Digital Realty Trust, Inc., vs. Somers which held that an employee who merely reports potential securities law violations internally has not done enough to avail himself of the extensive Dodd-Frank anti-retaliation protections, including “the immediate access to federal court, a generous statute of limitations (at least six years), and the opportunity to recover double backpay.”

In other words, reporting the violation to your boss, your manager, or HR is not enough, you need to report to the SEC.

While is where law firms like ours can help. Our attorneys include former SEC attorneys and broker-dealer lawyers, who know their way around these rules and regulations. We help whistleblowers present their information to the SEC and guide them through the process, including presentations to the Commission, at no cost unless there is compensation to our client.

If you believe you have a whistleblower claim, give us a call at 212-509-6544, or email Mark Astarita at mja@sallahlaw.com

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Mark Astarita is a partner in the national securities law firm of Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC.