The whistleblower, employment and civil rights law firm Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP today announced the release of its 2016 comprehensive practice guide for the whistleblower program for 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 thewhistleblower program for the CFTC, an independent agency with regulatory authority over futures trading.
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 acceptingwhistleblower 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.
