Qui tam whistleblower lawsuits are on the rise, and for good reason.  Although the basis for qui tam lawsuits, the U.S. False Claims Act, has been around for roughly 150 years, amendments were made to the bill in 2009 and 2010 that significantly strengthened it.  The False Claims Act allows a person who is not [...]

American International Group, Inc. (“AIG”) settled a lawsuit on Monday with a former compliance officer who alleged that she had been terminated in retaliation for raising concerns about what she perceived to be unusual trading by a former Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) at AIG.  The federal lawsuit was filed following a determination by the Occupational [...]

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a Louisiana district court erred in granting a credit union’s motion for summary judgment against a terminated employee in the case of Schroeder v. Greater New Orleans Federal Credit Union, et al. (“GNOFCU”).  The court found that “evidence and testimony presented could have allowed a reasonable jury [...]

Pricewaterhouse Coopers (“PWHC”) released a global economic crime survey in late November entitled “Cybercrime: Protecting Against the Growing Threat.”  While the survey dealt in large part with the growing threat of cybercrime in the economic and financial industries, it did have some very encouraging news about other types of financial crime, assuming that the survey [...]

On July 25, 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report recommending the addition of whistleblower protections to the Antitrust Criminal Penalties Enforcement and Reform Act (ACPERA).

A FINRA securities arbitration panel has ordered the Number Three US brokerage firm Wells Fargo Advisors and Wachovia Securities to pay nearly $7 million to a whistleblower who claims he was terminated in retaliation for cooperating with FINRA.  FINRA is the shorthand for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a non-profit regulatory agency paid for and [...]

According to an article published recently in the New York Post, Joseph Sciddurlo, a principal regulatory coordinator at FINRA, was terminated from the agency four months after he began suggesting to his superiors that the regulatory agency scrutinize the accounting of the investment banking agency Oppenheimer Holdings.  FINRA is the shorthand for the Financial Industry [...]