In this episode of the FCPA Compliance Report I visit with Gordon Graham. Gordon is a successful whistleblower who told his tale in the book The Intrepid Brotherhood. In this book, Graham discusses how corruption threatened to ruin jobs and harm lives. The leadership at the top of the organization used intimidation, distrust, and secrecy to control the Chelan County Public Utility District showing that control and power can corrupt even the most ethical organization’s integrity—unless someone speaks up. Which Gordon Graham did. In this podcast, he tells his story.
Resources
website: www.intrepidbrotherhood.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gordon-graham-57385319a
Facebook Author Page: In Search Of Aristotle | Facebook
Tag: whistleblower
EU rolls out an EU Sanctions Whistleblower Tool for anonymous reporting of sanctions violations.
Compliance into the Weeds is the only weekly podcast which takes a deep dive into a compliance related topic, literally going into the weeds to more fully explore a subject. This week, Matt and Tom take up two recent academic papers which every compliance practitioner should study as they provide insight about how communications can impact both fraud prevention and compliance. Some of the issues we consider
- Berger and Lee on state FCA claims cutting overall accounting fraud.
- Jinjie Lin on SEC tweeting and reduction of SEC violations.
- What do these communication strategies portend?
- How can they be used by the compliance professional?
- Why whistleblowing does more than simply prevent fraud, waste and abuse. Itimproves the bottom line.
- Investment in communications strategies pays off.
Resources
Matt in Radical Compliance
Compliance into the Weeds is the only weekly podcast which takes a deep dive into a compliance related topic, literally going into the weeds to more fully explore a subject. Today, Matt and Tom take a the recently filed lawsuit by Shaquala Williams against JPMorgan for alleged retaliation for her internal whistleblowing. Williams was in a compliance function at the bank and claimed she was terminated for raising the issues that JPMorgan was not living up to its reporting requirements under a DPA.Some of the issues we consider are:
- Facts of the claim?
- Made in the context of an ongoing DPA.
- The lack of lack of documented policies and procedures.
- Siloed nature of compliance functions.
- Inconsistency in risk assessments.
- Why is a single source of truth so critical?
Resources
Matt in Radical Compliance, That Lawsuit Against JP Morgan
In this Episode of the FCPA Compliance Report, I visit with Mary Inman, partner at Constantine Cannon. She runs the firms International Whistleblower practice from London. Highlights of this podcast include:
- The power of internal whistleblowing.
- EU whistleblower Directive.
- FCA whistleblowers.
- SEC bounty program as a model for other federal agencies.
- CFTC whistleblower awards.
- Where is whistleblower regulation headed.
Resources
Mary Inman on Constantine Cannon website.
Categories
EU Whistleblower Update
In this episode Jonathan Armstrong and Tom Fox are back to discuss issues relating to data privacy, data protection and GDPR. In this episode we take up a recent decision from Luxembourg which would seem antithetical to good whistleblower practices. We also consider the upcoming EU Whistleblower Directive go live date of December 17. Some of the questions we consider include:
- What are the facts of the enforcement actions?
- When should company harm outweigh public good from whistleblowers?
- What lessons can companies learn from this matter in conjunction with the EU whistleblower directive?
Resources
Check out the Cordery Compliance, client alert on this topic, click here. For more information on Cordery Compliance, go their website here. Also check out the GDPR Navigator, one of the top resources for GDPR Compliance by clicking here.
The passage of Dodd-Frank represented a major overhaul of U.S. financial regulations. Among the Act’s most notable achievements were the creation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Office of the Whistleblower and the SEC Whistleblower Program. In its short, 10-year history, the SEC Whistleblower Reward Program has been extraordinarily successful in enabling the SEC to root out securities fraud and protect investors. Since the inception of the SEC Whistleblower Program, the SEC has paid more than $900 million in awards to whistleblowers resulting in more than $3.5 billion in financial remedies. According to the SEC Whistleblower Program’s 2020 Annual Report, the SEC is tracking over 1,100 matters in which a whistleblower’s tip has caused a Matter Under Inquiry or investigation to open.
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Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, warlords, kleptocrats and more.
Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.
In this Episode of the FCPA Compliance Report, I am joined by Greg Keating, well-known employment lawyer who focuses on whistleblower regulation and litigation. In this episode we take a look at the current state of whistleblower regulations, case law and recent SEC awards. Highlights include:
- Greg recently changed firms, moving to Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. He tells us about your new firm?
- Why was the whistleblower provision of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 so controversial?
- What are you counseling clients on regarding whistleblower claims under the Biden Administration?
- In addition to the AMLA of 2020, what other regulatory changes have you seen from the federal government regarding whistleblowers?
- Are there any court cases involving whistleblowers that have gotten your attention in 2021?
- 2002 was the Year of the Whistleblower with Sherron Watkins of Enron, Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom and Collen Rowley of the FBI. Could 2021 be in the running for such a designation?
- Why is listening to those employees who raise their hands and speak up so critical?
- Why is a proactive approach to whistleblowers so critical?
Resources
Greg Keating on LinkedIn
Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. firm profile
In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:
- Size of potential whistleblower award threatens CFTC Whistleblower program. (NYT)
- Key suspect in Vatican corruption case detained. (National Catholic Reporter)
- Goodbye to salary negotiations at Coinbase. (Protocol)
- The ‘parental insanity’ defense. (Bloomberg)
