On April 13, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a $1.9 million whistleblower award. The agency granted the award to an individual whose whistleblower disclosure contributed to a successful enforcement action. Through the SEC Whistleblower Program, the SEC pays monetary awards to individuals who voluntarily provide original information that leads to a successful SEC enforcement action. Awards are for 10-30% of the funds collected by the SEC in the action. According to the award order, the whistleblower’s disclosure met the threshold to be “original information” by providin ..read more

On April 11, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) awarded $1 million to a whistleblower whose disclosure led to the opening of an investigation which culminated in a successful enforcement action. Through the SEC Whistleblower Program, the SEC pays monetary awards to individuals who provide original information that leads to a successful enforcement action. Awards are for 10-30% of the funds collected in the action. According to the award order, the whistleblower’s tip was “was the initial source of the underlying investigation.” Furthermore, the whistleblower “provided the Commis ..read more

On Wednesday, April 5, social lecture group Profs and Pints will host whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn at Little Penn Coffeehouse for “Whistleblowing 101,” a guide to exposing an organization’s wrongdoing. Kohn, who also serves as Chairman of the Board at the National Whistleblower Center and as an adjunct professor at the Northeastern University School of Law, has practiced whistleblower law since opening his firm in 1984. Kohn has represented some of the biggest names in whistleblowing, including Howard Wilkinson, who exposed the largest money launder ..read more

On March 22, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Wells notice to Coinbase, a cryptocurrency trading platform, indicating that the regulator intends to bring charges against the company. The notice reportedly focuses on Coinbase’s staking service, Coinbase Earn, Coinbase Prime, and Coinbase Wallet, the latter of three the company states is a technology not an exchange, broker, or centralized platform. Coinbase stated that the notice “does not provide much information for the company to respond to and that it is confident in the legality of its assets and services ..read more

On March 31, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted whistleblower awards to two whistleblowers who provided information that contributed to the success of the same enforcement action. One whistleblower received $9 million while the second received $3 million. Through the SEC Whistleblower Program, qualified whistleblowers, individuals who voluntarily provide original information that leads to a successful enforcement action, are entitled to monetary awards of 10-30% of the funds collected in the enforcement action. The SEC weighs a number of factors, including the significan ..read more

On March 23, leading whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto was a guest on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Kohn spoke about recent developments in whistleblowing including the December passage of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Whistleblower Improvement Act and the troubling False Claims Act statistics released by the Department of Justice for the 2022 Fiscal Year. Kohn begins by discussing the landmark AML Whistleblower Improvement Act, which he worked for two years to get passed. The law establishes an effective whistleblower program covering individuals discl ..read more

On March 15, a bipartisan group of senators introduced the SEC Whistleblower Reform Act of 2023. The bill strengthens the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) highly successful whistleblower award program by addressing issues in the Dodd-Frank Act. “This is an important bill that needs to be quickly passed,” said leading whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto. “The bill fixes the three big problems with Dodd-Frank: It covers internal whistleblowers who report to corporate compliance, it addresses the long delays that h ..read more

This article originally appeared in JD Supra. From oustee to advocate, former FBI agent Jane Turner continues to uplift whistleblowers while sharing her personal story exposing widespread misconduct and cover-ups within the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Standing outside a Minneapolis courtroom 16 years ago, jurors hugged Turner with tears in their eyes after siding with her in what would go down in federal whistleblower history. Turner, who served 25 devoted, decorated, and scot-free years in the FBI, had just won her case against her former employer who, witness after witne ..read more

WhistleblowersUK is set to host their 1st annual Whistleblowing Awareness Week from Monday, March 20 through Friday, March 24. The event occurs in conjunction with the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Whistleblowing. Designed to bring together leading voices in the whistleblower sphere to advocate for more robust laws in the UK and beyond, Whistleblowing Awareness Week (WBAW) will feature a week’s worth of panels, workshops, roundtables, and keynote addresses. “Whistleblowers are the most effective first line of defense against crime, corruption and cover up ..read more

Sarah Masarweh also contributed to this article. On March 8, whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn addressed journalists from across the Indo-Pacific and Central Asian region as part of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). This segment, titled the “Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists: Research and Investigation for the Indo-Pacific and Central Asia,” looked to unite journalists in the effort to promote democracy and free speech in their home countries. Kohn, a founding partner of the leading whistleblower firm Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto LLP and Cha ..read more