Regardless of what your politics are, most would probably agree that the policies that will be administered and enforced by the newly-elected Trump administration are less than clear at this point. Many of the central tenets of the Trump campaign platform such as repealing Obamacare and mass deportation appear to be fluid when it comes to plans to actually implementing them. Given that the SEC Whistleblower Program currently in effect arise from reforms implemented during the Obama administration, there is a big question mark regarding how such programs will function under a Trump administration.
The SEC Whistleblower Program is Just Getting Started
The SEC Whistleblower Program came into existence as a result of the passage of the Dodd-Frank Reform Act in 2010, which was a response to the economic collapse of 2008. The SEC made its first whistleblower award in 2012, and, since that time, has awarded well over $100 million in awards to over 30 whistleblowers who have come forward to the SEC with information of securities violations that led to successful enforcement actions. In many ways, the program appears to be just getting started as the majority of that money has been awarded in the past year, with 7 of the top 10 awards being made in 2016 alone.
Questions About Trump and the Dodd-Frank Act
President-elect Trump campaigned on reversing the reforms set in place by the Obama administration, and had briefly mentioned repealing the Dodd-Frank act, but no specifics were given either prior to his election or since that time. To provide some perspective, however, Trump mentioned repealing Obamacare frequently on the campaign trail, but in a 60 Minutes interview only days after the election, he said he planned to maintain two of the key aspects of Obamacare and did not provide specifics regarding the future of the other provisions of the law. This suggests that there is little certainty to be had with respect to how Trump will view the provisions of the Dodd-Frank act, and specifically the SEC Whistleblower Program.
We can get some perspective, however, by looking at the person who Trump has brought in to help manage his transition and potentially run the SEC: former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins. Fortune reports that Atkins had criticized the SEC Whistleblower Program in the past, arguing that the program undermined internal reporting procedures at companies intended to root out wrongdoing at the source. As Fortune states, however, the Wells Fargo scandal – in which numerous employees tried to report wrongdoing internally and appear to have been fired as a result – brings up serious questions regarding the efficacy of such programs, and anti-whistleblowing actions in this climate may not sit well with the public.
Why Maintaining the SEC Whistleblower Program Makes Sense
Furthermore, it should be remembered that one of Trump’s frequent attacks against Clinton was her connections with Wall Street (specifically calling her out for making “secret” paid speeches to Goldman Sachs) and suggesting that he would be a better candidate for representing the concerns of ordinary citizens against the excesses of Wall Street. Certainly, the SEC Whistleblower Program is an example of the federal government taking meaningful action on behalf of citizens to fight back against illegal actions which serve only to benefit wealthy entities at the expense of the common investor, so we would hope that a President Trump takes steps to strengthen and not weaken the SEC Whistleblower Program and the vital work that it is doing on behalf of investors and others across the country.
Obtaining Your Own SEC Whistleblower Award
With the future of the SEC Whistleblower Program open to debate, the time is now to come forward with your SEC whistleblower information. Bringing whistleblower information to the SEC can be a complex process, but it can also be tremendously lucrative, and the right thing to do to help keep our financial markets fair. To learn more about how Kreindler & Associates can help in your SEC whistleblower matter, see here.
