September 7, 2018

Reform Could Increase Payouts to Whistleblowers

New financial reform legislation before Congress would allow an increase in multi-million dollar awards to whistleblowers. Ideally, this would create an environment where companies are pressured to report misconduct earlier and where whistleblowers will see the reward in bringing fraudulent activities to light.

Under the new law, the Securities and Exchange Commission would be required to award whistleblowers 30 percent of the total retribution or settlement gained from prosecution of the fraudulent company.

The False Claims Act had similar goals, although without the minimum reward requirement that would offer whisteblowers and lucrative and tangible incentive to report their company’s wrongdoings. Many experts agree that this type of incentive would go a long way toward convincing wary potential-whistleblowers who are afraid of losing their jobs or facing similar retaliation from the company they report. With significant financial incentive, blowing the whistle on misconduct gets a little easier.

Learn how the qui tam attorneys at Berg & Androphy have recovered hundreds of millions for the government and whistleblowers. Discover our Qui Tam toolkit to learn and understand much more about this interesting and positive field of legal practice.