SEC Whistleblower Lawyer Jeffrey Keller of Keller Grover Law Firm Discusses Securities Fraud — and How Whistleblowers Help Fight It
In a Google Hangout, whistleblower lawyer Jeffrey Keller talks about the newest government programs to incentivize witnesses to speak out on securities-related wrongdoing
Securities fraud — Ponzi schemes, accounting fraud, insider trading, and other illegal activities — has been no stranger to headlines in recent years. But what often gets overlooked is that much of this wrongful behavior could have been identified, and stopped in its tracks, had someone spoken out. In the wake of the financial crisis, revisions to some of the nation’s most important securities laws aimed to encourage whistleblowers to do just that — and they are already proving effective.
The impact of whistleblowers on securities fraud is the topic of the latest Google Hangout from Keller Grover, one of the nation’s leading whistleblower and employment law firms. In a discussion now available for viewing on YouTube http://youtu.be/hGFAvqOqtvI
and on the Keller Grover website at the firm’s Jeffrey F. Keller, a veteran whistleblower lawyer, discusses how the landmark Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the SEC whistleblower program has reinvigorated the war on fraud by spurring whistleblowers to act.
“Dodd-Frank emulates, in many key ways, the nation’s most important — and successful — whistleblower statute, the False Claims Act,” says Keller. “That statute, which has spurred the recovery of more than $34 billion since the mid-1980s, opened the door for insiders to speak out against wrongdoing against the government. It did this in large part by incentivizing whistleblowers to bring claims, awarding a percentage of any recovery the government ultimately received. Incentivizing whistleblowers through the False Claims Act or the SEC whistleblower program acknowledges how important a whistleblower’s information is in fighting fraud, and rewards that person for having the courage to step forward, often times in the face of potential retaliation.”
Dodd-Frank amended the nation’s premier securities and commodities laws — the Securities Exchange Act (SEA) and the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), respectively — to add incentivized whistleblower programs. While the False Claims Act was enacted to help expose fraud on the government, these new programs expand the role of whistleblowers to cover any of the many wrongful acts prohibited by the SEA and CEA.
In the Google Hangout, Keller notes how these new whistleblower programs have already become potent weapons in the fight against securities fraud — and how by empowering individuals to stamp it out, they benefit countless others. “Dodd-Frank brings an array of reforms to the financial markets, and these whistleblower programs are certainly among the most important,” says Keller, whose firm has offices in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. “The task now is to get the word out, so everyone with knowledge of something amiss can help us beat back fraud — and see fairness in the markets prevail.”
The Google Hangout with Jeffrey Keller is part of an ongoing series of discussions with the whistleblower lawyers at Keller Grover. Future episodes will look at other types of fraud — and how whistleblowers can help uncover and stamp out those, as well.
For more information or help with a potential SEC whistleblower case contact our whistleblower hotline at 866.486.1537 – 24/7 or visit us on the web