SEC Whistleblower Attorneys

The SEC whistleblower attorneys at Zuckerman Law, one of the nation’s leading law firms representing whistleblowers in whistleblower rewards and whistleblower retaliation claims, routinely work with whistleblowers worldwide to investigate and disclose a wide variety of fraudulent schemes. Under the SEC’s whistleblower program, individuals are eligible to receive an award if they:

(1) report a violation to the SEC (whistleblower can report anonymously if represented by counsel); and

(2) the information leads to a successful enforcement action with total civil penalties in excess of $1 million.

The whistleblower will be eligible to receive an award of between 10-30 percent of the total penalties imposed.

Since the inception of the SEC Whistleblower Program, the SEC has received more than 52,400 whistleblower tips and awarded approximately $1.1 billion to 226 individuals, including awards paid to our clients.

During FY 2021, the SEC awarded approximately $564 million to 108 individuals —both the largest dollar amount and the largest number of individuals awarded in a single fiscal year. The two largest SEC whistleblower awards in the program’s history were paid in FY 2021 — a $114 million award to one whistleblower in October 2020 and a $110 million award to another in September 2021.

Click on our guide to the SEC Whistleblower Program to see some of our tips for SEC whistleblowers.

Securities Violations That Qualify for an SEC Award 

 

 

Any violation of federal securities laws qualifies for an award under the SEC Whistleblower Program. The SEC has broad jurisdiction over both public and private entities. The most common tips that the SEC receives involve violations in public filings, investment violations, and insider trading tips. However, other notable areas of SEC enforcement include things such a foreign bribery, EB-5 fraud, and even auditor independence violations.

• Accounting fraud;
• Inadequate internal controls;
• Investment company fraud;
• Insider trading;
• EB-5 investment fraud;
• Foreign bribery payments and other violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act;
• Market manipulation schemes;
• Unregistered broker-dealers;
• Investment adviser fraud;
• Offering fraud and Ponzi schemes;
• Deceptive non-GAAP financial measures; and
• Violations of auditor independence rules.

Since 2011, the SEC Whistleblower Office has received over 18,00 tips, some of which led to enforcement actions resulting in a total of over $584 million in sanctions (including more than $346 million in disgorgement and interest).

Contact the SEC Whistleblower Attorneys at Zuckerman Law 

If you are seeking representation in an SEC whistleblower case, click here, or call us at 202-262-8959 to schedule a free, confidential consultation.  U.S. News and Best Lawyers® have named Zuckerman Law a Tier 1 firm in Litigation – Labor and Employment in the Washington DC metropolitan area.

Click here to read reviews from clients that we have represented in whistleblower rewards and whistleblower retaliation matters.

Qualifying for an SEC Whistleblower Award

Process to Obtain an SEC Whistleblower Award

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Have you witnessed corporate misconduct involving commodities or security fraud, tax underpayment, fraud on the government, or other corporate fraud? Did you know you could be entitled to a reward and legal protection for reporting fraud?

Congress has enacted several laws that provide financial incentives to whistleblowers and protect whistleblowers from retaliation. Under these laws, whistleblowers have helped our government recover more than 30 billion dollars and have enabled regulators and prosecutors to halt ongoing fraud. Now, you can do the right thing and potential obtain a substantial award, and you can report fraud anonymously through an attorney in many cases.

Under the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission whistleblower programs, you can receive a reward up to 30 percent for tips leading to monetary sanctions in excess of 1 million dollars. If the IRS uses the whistleblower’s information to collect more than 2 million dollars in owed taxes, the whistleblower may receive a reward of up to 30 percent of the collected proceeds.

If you’re thinking about blowing the whistle, it is critical to hire an experienced attorney to maximum your ability to obtain a whistleblower reward and to protect you from retaliation. The whistleblower attorneys at Zuckerman Law in Washington, D.C. represent corporate whistleblowers nationwide and work diligently to obtain the maximum recoveries for their clients in both whistleblower reward and whistleblower protection claims. The attorneys at Zuckerman Law have been representing whistleblowers before the SEC and Department of Justice for more than a decade concerning a wide variety of complex fraud schemes, including market manipulation, financial statement fraud, and contractor fraud. Zuckerman Law also represents whistleblowers in retaliation claims, including claims under the Sarbanes Oxley Act.

Don’t live in fear. Do the right thing. Call the whistleblower lawyers at Zuckerman Law today at 202-262-8959 or go to our website, www.zuckermanlaw.com, to learn more about whistleblower rights and protections. At Zuckerman Law, we work to protect you and get you the reward you deserve.