Harris Mufson
Partner
Subscribe to all posts by Harris Mufson
A recent Bloomberg article reports that whistleblower complaints to the SEC have soared as employees have been working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the article, the SEC received 6,900 complaints in the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2020 – a 31% jump from the previous 12-month record. The article discusses … Continue Reading
On June 9, 2020, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced a $6 million whistleblower award to an individual under its Dodd-Frank whistleblower program. The individual was rewarded for voluntarily providing specific, credible, and timely information that led the CFTC to bring a successful enforcement action. The Director of the Whistleblower Office, Christopher Ehrman, … Continue Reading
A Reuters article published on May 26, 2020 reports that the SEC has experienced an uptick in complaints amid the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the article, the SEC received about 4,000 complaints from mid-March through mid-May – a 35% increase from the previous year. With an abundance of tips at its disposal, the SEC is … Continue Reading
In recent weeks, there have been numerous widely reported incidents of employees, particularly those in the health care industry, claiming that they have been retaliated against for reporting health and safety concerns related to COVID-19. Such complaints are indicative of the kinds of whistleblower and retaliation claims employers are likely to see in the near … Continue Reading
On February 28, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a former chief marketing officer’s claim of whistleblower retaliation under the Dodd Frank Act. Cellucci v. O’Leary No. 19-cv-02752 (S.D.N.Y. 2020). Background Plaintiff is one of several former chief executives of a closely-held infrastructure technology company who were terminated. … Continue Reading
As we previously reported, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Administrative Review Board has twice held that Sarbanes Oxley’s anti-retaliation provision does not apply extraterritorially. See Hu v. PTC, Inc., ARB Case No. 2017-0068 (Sept. 18, 2019); Perez v. Citigroup, Inc., ARB Case No. 2017-0031 (Sept. 30, 2019). An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the DOL … Continue Reading
In a pair of recently issued decisions, the Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (ARB) held that Sarbanes Oxley’s anti-retaliation provision does not apply extraterritorially. Hu v. PTC, Inc., ARB Case No. 2017-0068 (Sept. 18, 2019); Perez v. Citigroup, Inc., ARB Case No. 2017-0031 (Sept. 30, 2019). Hu Decision In Hu, the complainant worked entirely … Continue Reading
On September 25, 2019, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators introduced the Whistleblower Programs Improvement Act (the “Act”), which would extend anti-retaliation protections under the Dodd-Frank Act to internal complaints. The Act mirrors a bill introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this year in direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Digital … Continue Reading
On March 4, 2019, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a whistleblower award totaling more than $2 million to be paid to an individual whistleblower, as part of its Dodd-Frank whistleblower program. This award is particularly interesting because the whistleblower “provide[d] critical information through independent analysis of market data,” according to the CFTC … Continue Reading
On November 15, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published its statutorily mandated fiscal year report to Congress covering the agency’s whistleblower program. The report, which covers the period from October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018, was prepared by the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower (“OWB”) to summarize its whistleblower bounty program, … Continue Reading
On July 12, 2018, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued its largest whistleblower award ever, approximately $30 million, as part of its Dodd-Frank whistleblower program. This is the first award under the Trump Administration, and only the fifth award that the CFTC has issued since the inception of its whistleblower bounty program. Notably, … Continue Reading
On June 27, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal on summary judgment of a SOX whistleblower retaliation claim, concluding that the Plaintiff’s purported belief that the Defendant had committed fraud was not objectively reasonable. Westawski v. Merck & Co., No. 16-4075, 2018 WL 3159093 (3d Cir. June 27, … Continue Reading
On June 27, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted Snap Inc.’s motion to compel arbitration of a Dodd-Frank whistleblower retaliation claim. Pompliano v. Snap Inc., No. 17-cv-3664 (2018 WL 3198454). Background. Plaintiff signed an employment agreement (the “Agreement”) with Snap Inc. (the “Company”) without consulting an attorney. Fired just “three … Continue Reading
We previously reported in March and last October on a whistleblower litigation brought by Charles Erhart, a former Bank of Internet Holding, Inc. (BofI) internal auditor. On December 3, 2015, in a separate action, the shareholders of BofI brought a derivative suit, based in part on the facts of the whistleblower case, claiming BofI’s board of directors … Continue Reading
The ARB recently affirmed a motion for summary decision against a Complainant claiming retaliatory discharge under SOX, finding that he failed to demonstrate that he engaged in protected activity and that the Company would have discharged him in the absence of any protected activity given his misconduct. Latigo v. ENI Trading & Shipping, 2018 DOL … Continue Reading
On April 19, 2018, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey held that providing testimony to FINRA (which is overseen by the SEC) does not constitute protected activity for purposes of establishing a Dodd-Frank whistleblower claim. Price v. UBS Financial Services, Inc., No. 2:17-01882. Background. Plaintiff, a former UBS Private Wealth … Continue Reading
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently granted a motion for summary judgment against a Plaintiff claiming retaliatory blacklisting under SOX, holding that a former employer’s policy of refusing to conduct business with plaintiff was not actionable under the circumstances of the case. Kshetrapal v. Dish Network, 2018 U.S. Dist. … Continue Reading
On March 20, 2018, the DC Circuit upheld the SEC’s denial of a Claimant’s application for a Dodd-Frank whistleblower bounty award because the SEC did not rely on the information provided by the Claimant in pursuing an enforcement action against Management Solutions. In upholding the SEC determination, for first time, the court identified the standard … Continue Reading
Last week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a terminated CEO’s complaints about his board of directors’ managerial decisions did not qualify as protected whistleblowing under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”) nor under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 (“DFA”). Verfuerth v. Orion Energy Sys., Inc., No. 16-3502, 2018 WL 359814 (7th Cir. … Continue Reading
On December 5, 2017, the SEC announced a whistleblower award of more than $4.1 million to an overseas former company insider. The SEC declined to disclose the identity of the whistleblower or the company at issue. The order noted that the tipster voluntarily reported original information that prompted an SEC investigation which uncovered an extensive … Continue Reading
A California federal court—in Erhart v. BofI Holding, Inc., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14755, Case No. 15-cv-02287 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 11, 2017)—recently denied BofI Federal Bank’s (“BofI’s”) motion to dismiss the Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower claims plead in their former internal auditor Charles Erhart’s amended complaint. The court also denied BofI’s motion as to Erhart’s defamation claim, … Continue Reading
The Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (ARB) recently held that a former employee of Exelis Systems Corporation who was employed in Afghanistan could bring a SOX claim even though he worked exclusively outside of the United States. Blanchard v. Exelis Systems Corp./Vectrus Systems Corp., ARB Case No. 15-031 (August 29, 2017). In so ruling, … Continue Reading
The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee recently emphasized the limited scope of what constitutes protected activity under the Dodd-Frank Act’s (the Act) whistleblower protection provision, noting that the Act protects only “certain kinds of whistleblowers who report certain kinds of violations.” Boyle v. Evolve Bank & Trust et al, No. … Continue Reading
In a recent decision, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin held that Dodd-Frank whistleblower claims (Section 922 claims) are subject to mandatory arbitration. Wussow v. Bruker Corp., No. 16-CV-444-WMC, 2017 WL 2805016 (W.D. Wis. June 28, 2017). In Wussow, upon his hire, the plaintiff executed an arbitration agreement in which he … Continue Reading
Bloomberg: SEC Receives Record Number of Whistleblower Tips From Remote Employees
By Harris Mufson and Pinchos Goldberg on Posted in SEC
CFTC Issues $6 Million Whistleblower Award
Reuters: SEC Eager to Prosecute COVID-19 Misconduct Amid Flurry of Whistleblower Complaints
By Harris Mufson, Pinchos Goldberg and Dominique Kilmartin on Posted in SEC
Whistleblower Claims on the Horizon Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
By Steven J. Pearlman, Lloyd B. Chinn, Harris Mufson, Pinchos Goldberg and Caroline Guensberg on Posted in Best Practices, OSHA Administration, State-Specific Whistleblower Claims
SDNY Dismisses Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Claim for Lack of Protected Activity and Causation
By Harris Mufson, Pinchos Goldberg and Scott Tan on Posted in Dodd Frank
DOL Decision Confirms Extraterritorial Limits of SOX Whistleblower Provision
By Harris Mufson, Pinchos Goldberg and Dominique Kilmartin on Posted in DOL Decisions, SOX Whistleblower Decisions
ARB: SOX Whistleblower Provision Does Not Apply Extraterritorially
By Harris Mufson and Allison Martin on Posted in Key ARB Decisions, SOX Whistleblower Decisions
U.S. Senate Introduces Bill to Extend Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Protections
By Harris Mufson, Pinchos Goldberg and Tony S. Martinez on Posted in Dodd Frank, Legislation
CFTC Issues $2 Million Whistleblower Award to Individual Whistleblower for Analysis of Market Data
By Harris Mufson and Andrew Sherwood on Posted in CFTC, Dodd Frank
SEC Releases FY 2018 Whistleblower Program Annual Report
By Harris Mufson and Jacob L. Hirsch on Posted in Dodd Frank, SEC
CFTC Issues $30 Million Whistleblower Award
By Lloyd B. Chinn, Harris Mufson and Andrew Sherwood on Posted in CFTC
Third Circuit Affirms Dismissal of SOX Whistleblower Suit
By Harris Mufson and Jay M. Cohen on Posted in SOX Whistleblower Decisions
California Federal Court Grants Motion to Compel Arbitration of Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Claim
By Harris Mufson and Jeremy M. Mittman on Posted in Dodd Frank
Update on BofI Whistleblower Litigation
By Lloyd B. Chinn, Harris Mufson and Austin McLeod on Posted in SOX Whistleblower Decisions
ARB Rejects SOX Claim Due to Complainant’s Harassment
By Steven J. Pearlman, Harris Mufson and Arielle E. Kobetz on Posted in OSHA Administration, SOX Whistleblower Decisions, Title VII
Federal Court Rules That Providing Testimony to FINRA Is Not Protected Activity Under Dodd-Frank
By Harris Mufson and Brett Schwab on Posted in Dodd Frank
SDNY Grants Summary Judgment Against Plaintiff in SOX Blacklisting Suit
By Lloyd B. Chinn, Harris Mufson and Annabel Pollioni on Posted in SOX Whistleblower Decisions
DC Circuit Upholds SEC’s Denial of Dodd-Frank Bounty Award
By Harris Mufson and Annabel Pollioni on Posted in Dodd Frank, SEC
Seventh Circuit Affirms Grant of Summary Judgment on Terminated CEO’s SOX And DFA Claims
By Lloyd B. Chinn, Harris Mufson and Bassam Gergi on Posted in Dodd Frank, SEC, SOX Whistleblower Decisions
SEC Issues $4.1 Million Award to Overseas Whistleblower
By Lloyd B. Chinn and Harris Mufson on Posted in Dodd Frank, SEC
UPDATE: California Federal Court Permits Former Bank Internal Auditor’s Whistleblower Claims to Proceed
By Harris Mufson, Jeremy M. Mittman and Pietro Deserio on Posted in SOX Whistleblower Decisions
DOL Allows SOX Claim Where Foreign Whistleblower Alleged Violation of US Law
By Lloyd B. Chinn, Harris Mufson and Rachel Fischer on Posted in SOX Whistleblower Decisions
Tennessee District Court: Dodd-Frank is Not a General Anti-Retaliation Law
By Steven J. Pearlman, Harris Mufson and Susan McAleavey on Posted in Dodd Frank
Federal Court Compels Arbitration of Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Claim
By Harris Mufson and Jay M. Cohen on Posted in Dodd Frank
