Law360
November.15.2012
This article, about the number of tips received by the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower in 2012, quotes employment law partner Mike Delikat.
According to Mr. Delikat, more time is needed to determine whether the whistleblower program is fulfilling its anti-fraud mission.
"We really need to hear more than these broad statements that ... [SEC Chairman Mary L.] Schapiro makes. We need to hear anecdotally that we never would have uncovered fraud in certain cases unless a whistleblower had come forward,” he said.
Mr. Delikat also noted that the SEC could help its own cause by paying out larger awards to whistleblowers in the future when warranted, with the agency's first $50,000 award paling in comparison to a $104 million bounty issued in September by the Internal Revenue Service, which has a similar program in place.
"There's certainly a tremendous amount of interest, but the payoff in the [SEC] bounty program has been almost nonexistent to this point," he said. "The SEC needs to make some bold statements if they really want to encourage quality tips."