A federal jury awarded the former general counsel of BioRad Laboratories $8 million in back pay and damages — which will increase to $11 million — for whistleblower retaliation involving potential bribery in China, according to a Courthouse News article.

Sanford “Sandy” Wadler won $2.96 million for economic losses and $5 million in punitive damages. Because the Dodd-Frank Act allows double back pay damages for whistleblower retaliation, the back pay award will increase to $5.92 million, bringing the total to nearly $11 million, explains reporter Nicholas Iovino.

Wadler sued Hercules, California-based BioRad Laboratories and its CEO Norman Schwartz in May 2015. He alleged he was fired in June 2013 for reporting potential bribery in China, a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

David A. Nenni and Jessica L. Sussman of Jackson Lewis also wrote about the verdict in the firm’s Corporate Compliance and White Collar Advisor blog:

This case implicates a number of key issues confronting companies and their in-house legal teams, including:  (1) protections and scope of the attorney-client privilege; (2) what constitutes protected activity from an in-house attorney or compliance officer; (3) the importance of consistent and timely performance critiques; and (4) preparing adverse employment decisions to be scrutinized by a judge, jury, or arbitrator.  The case also highlights the existing split among federal courts regarding what constitutes a “whistleblower” under the DFA.

Read the Courthouse News article.

Read the Jackson Lewis blog item.

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The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Whistleblower Office announced on April 4 that it would issue an award of more than $10 million to a whistleblower whose information led to a successful CFTC enforcement action, reports Katz, Marshall & Banks on its website.

“The award was the largest the agency has ever issued. The recipient of the award and the company penalized were not disclosed — steps purposefully taken by the CFTC to protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers who are concerned about the effect that blowing the whistle may have on their career,” the firm wrote.

“Awards like this one show whistleblowers that blowing the whistle is worth the risk, and will go a long way toward solidifying the CFTC Whistleblower Program,” said Lisa J. Banks a partner in the firm.

Read the article.

The whistleblower, employment and civil rights law firm Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP has announced the release of its 2016 comprehensive practice guides for the whistleblower programs for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The firm has produced its SEC Whistleblower Practice Guide annually since the inception of the SEC Whistleblower Program in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). As a companion manual, the firm’s first-ever CFTC Whistleblower Practice Guide covers the whistleblower program for the CFTC, an independent agency with regulatory authority over futures trading.

The firm says in a release that both guides provide in-depth explanations of the rules and procedures concerning the respective programs, offer valuable practice trips for whistleblowers and their counsel, and outline the legal protections that whistleblowers have against retaliation for reporting violations to the SEC and CFTC.

“The Katz, Marshall & Banks SEC guide is an invaluable resource containing all of the ‘nuts and blots’ about reporting securities violations to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,” said David J. Marshall, a founding partner of the firm and the SEC guide’s principal author. “The guide offers great detail on everything from preparing a winning ‘tip’ to cooperating in an SEC investigation to claiming a financial whistleblower award for helping to enforce the nation’s securities laws.”

SEC officials have continually praised the whistleblower program as a significant addition to the Commission’s ability to enforce the nation’s securities law – in some cases facilitating early intervention to minimize the harm to investors from unlawful conduct. To date, the SEC has paid over $55 million to 23 whistleblowers under the program.

The CFTC Whistleblower Program, which also was established through Dodd-Frank, began accepting whistleblower tips in September 2012, with the number of tips steadily rising since the program’s inception. The CFTC thus far has paid two awards to whistleblowers in connection with these tips, including a September 2015 payout totaling $290,000.

“We are pleased to introduce the Katz, Marshall & Banks CFTC Whistleblower Practice Guide to help whistleblowers earn the financial awards for helping to regulate commodity futures trading in the United States,” said Lisa J. Banks, a founding partner of the firm and the principal author of CFTC guide. “Following a couple of recent, significant awards under the CFTC Whistleblower Program, and with $300 million set aside in a special whistleblower fund, the Commission clearly is gearing up for a greater number and higher quality of whistleblower tips and payout of substantial awards.”

Available for free download from the Katz, Marshall & Banks website, the SEC Whistleblower Practice Guide can be found here, and the CFTC Whistleblower Practice Guide is available here.

About Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP

Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP is a boutique law firm representing plaintiffs in the areas of whistleblower, employment discrimination and sexual harassment law; Title IX of the Education Amendments; and other civil rights and civil liberties matters. The firm’s lawyers also represent whistleblowers in seeking monetary rewards by submitting tips to the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodities Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Programs, and through the filing of “qui tam” actions under the False Claims Act.