More whistleblowers turn directly to the SEC to report complaints of alleged misconduct than to internal reporting systems, reports NAVEX Global. A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling further encourages this behavior, so it is critical to evaluate a company’s employee whistleblowing program.

NAVEX will present a complimentary webinar on the subject on Tuesday, April 10, 2018, beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific / 1 p.m. Eastern time.

Participants will hear new insights from the 2018 Ethics & Compliance Hotline & Incident Management Benchmark Report. Experts at Baker McKenzie and NAVEX Global have analyzed the data to show you how to assess your program and improve the odds that an employee will report to you first—giving you critical foresight into potential organizational risk.

Presenters will be Carrie Penman, Chief Compliance Officer and Senior VP, NAVEX Global; and Scott Nelson, Partner, Baker McKenzie LLP.

Register for the webinar.

The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics has posted a podcast titled “Paul Fiorell on Snitches Get Stitches: Our Feelings About Whistleblowers.”

Fiorelli is Professor of Legal Studies and Co-Director, Cintas Institute for Business Ethics at Xavier University.

“We all admire whistleblowers who call out wrongdoing and help right a wrong, at least we do in the abstract. But, as case after case has shown, whistleblowers are rarely so admired by their peers,” the SCCE says in its introduction to the recording.

Listen to the podcast.

Reuters is reporting that a former partner at a major law firm in Washington pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges that he tried to sell copies of sealed whistleblower lawsuits against corporations that he obtained while working at the U.S. Justice Department.

Reporter Nate Raymond writes that Jeffrey Wertkin was working at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP when he was arrested in January trying to sell an undercover federal agent one of the lawsuits while wearing a wig as a disguise, according to court papers.

As a former employee of the Justice Department, he had access to lawsuits filed by whistleblowers against companies on the government’s behalf to recover taxpayer funds paid out based on fraudulent claims. Prosecutors said he copied several whistleblower complaints and then tried to sell them for a “consulting fee.”

Read the Reuters article.

Former TIAA general counsel Paul Cellupica has been hired by the Securities Exchange Commission at a time TIAA is under scrutiny from a NY State Attorney General investigation and a pending SEC whistleblower complaint, reports The Global Legal Post.

The state attorney general has been investigating TIAA’s mutual fund and annuity sales practices following a whistleblower complaint filed by TIAA with the SEC in the autumn outlining questionable sales practices the company and its brokers allegedly perpetuated on public school teachers investing for retirement, the report says.

Read the Global Legal Post article.

A prominent attorney to whistle-blowers was admonished by a Washington disciplinary panel for helping a fired General Electric in-house attorney leak damaging information about GE to law enforcement officials and journalists, according to a Bloomberg Law report.

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Lynne Bernabei represented Adriana Koeck, who was also a respondent in this case. The ethics charges against Bernabei, Koeck, and a third lawyer—Notre Dame Law Professor G. Robert Blakey—were tied to events that occurred after GE fired Koeck in 2006, explains reporter Samson Habte.

Bernabei and Blakey allegedly advised Koeck to leak confidential GE documents that Koeck downloaded to support a whistle-blower retaliation claim against the company under the Sarbanes-Oxley Ac.

Read the Bloomberg article.

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Jackson Lewis has posted an on-demand webinar exploring recent developments and important decisions in whistleblower litigation under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Act.

Presenters are Richard J. Cino and Joseph C. Toris.

Topics for the free webinar include:

• The expansion of the definition of a whistleblower;
• The weakening of the standard of proof in employee whistleblower cases;
• The necessity for an effective policy and a thorough and prompt investigation.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

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AltaClaro will present a complimentary webinar focusing on managing legal and cultural risks in cross-border investigations. The event will be Wednesday, July 26, 2017, beginning at noon Eastern time.

Expert panelists Jon Abernethy (Partner, Cohen & Gresser LLP) and Andrew Curtin (Global Head of Investigations, AIG) will join AltaClaro Founder & CEO and former Deputy General Counsel of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Abdi Shayesteh, will be presenters.

In this interactive, live webcast, Abdi will moderate Abernethy’s and Curtin’s discussion of the following topics:

(1) Handling multi-jurisdictional approaches to privileged communications in the aftermath of the recent U.K. decisions in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Ltd. and The RBS Rights Issue Litigation

(2) Identifying potential cultural challenges and local laws that may impede an effective investigation and prevent a one-size-fits-all approach to designing internal processes and procedures within multinational organizations

(3) Implementing best practices when preparing for and coordinating effective internal investigations across international lines

Register for the webinar.

Bio-Rad Laboratories has agreed to pay $3.5 million in legal fees for the team that represented former general counsel Sanford Wadler during a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit Wadler brought against his former employer, reports MassDevice.com.

The agreement came after a federal jury in California awarded Wadler $11 million in the lawsuit he brought against Bio-Rad. The jury awarded Wadler $2.9 million in back pay and stocks and $5 million in punitive damages, with the back pay award slated to be doubled, bringing the total award to $10.8 million, reports Sarah Faulkner.

“Wadler, who was fired in 2013, alleged that he was let go right before the company was planning to present findings from a bribery investigation in Russia, Thailand and Vietnam. Wadler accused the company of stonewalling his efforts to uncover evidence of similar bribery in China,” Faulkner writes.

Writing about the case on the website of Baker Donelson, shareholder Robert E. Hauberg Jr. explains that the court had ruled Wadler could use as evidence otherwise privileged materials, because the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s protection of whistleblowers pre-empted the attorney-client privilege. (See “Whistleblower General Counsel Prevails Through Use Of Attorney-Client Privileged Information.”)

Read the MassDevice.com article.

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Lisa J. Banks, co-founding partner of Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP, is co-author of the recently released book “Whistleblower Law: A Practitioner’s Guide.”

Available in eBook and print formats from its publisher, ALM’s Law Journal Press, the book is a practical, comprehensive guide to rapidly evolving whistleblower law and the numerous and often complex issues facing practitioners today from both sides of the whistleblower bar, the firm said in a release. Banks, along with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Partner Jason Schwartz, have written a balanced view of the law useful to both whistleblower advocates and defense counsel alike.

The book’s topics include:

• Major legislation, including the False Claims Act of 1863, the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, and The Dodd-Frank Act;

• Whistleblower protection for employees across a broad spectrum of industries, including the nuclear and environmental, consumer and investor, and transportation fields;

• Survey of state whistleblower laws in the 50 states and the District of Columbia;

• Whistleblower incentive programs, including those from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and Internal Revenue Service;

• Unique challenges faced by whistleblowing attorneys and compliance officers; and

• Employer considerations, including preventative measures, investigations, disclosures, privilege and settlements.

In her review of the book, Danielle Brian, Executive Director of the Project on Government Oversight, said: “As a federal government watchdog, I often work with corporate and government insiders with first-hand knowledge of matters vital to the public interest. Whistleblowers are the first and best line of defense against waste, corruption, and other misconduct by the government and its contractors. This book is simply without equal as a comprehensive, non-biased guide to the current landscape of federal and state whistleblower law.”

Roel Campos, former Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and current Chair of the Securities Enforcement Practice at Hughes Hubbard & Reed added: “Lisa Banks and Jason Schwartz have given lawyers an excellent resource for navigating the growing maze of whistleblower laws that impact on nearly every practice area today. For attorneys involved in the heavily regulated financial markets, where whistleblowers are playing in increasing role, the authors not only equip practitioners with an in-depth knowledge of statutes and case law, but they also provide insightful practice tips for that can help both sides of the bar counsel their clients on the handling of whistleblower issues as they arise and unfold. This fresh look at whistleblower law and practice is a go-to resource for in-house counsel, compliance officers and whistleblowers alike.”

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.