The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government,created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market manipulation.
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that mandates certain practices in financial record keeping and reporting for corporations. The act,,also known as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act" and "Corporate and Auditing Accountability,Responsibility,and Transparency Act" and more commonly called Sarbanes–Oxley,SOX or Sarbox,contains eleven sections that place requirements on all U.S. public company boards of directors and management and public accounting firms. A number of provisions of the Act also apply to privately held companies,such as the willful destruction of evidence to impede a federal investigation.
The United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a permanent independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose basic legislative authority comes from four federal statutes:the Civil Service Reform Act,the Whistleblower Protection Act,the Hatch Act,and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). OSC's primary mission is the safeguarding of the merit system in federal employment by protecting employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices (PPPs),especially reprisal for "whistleblowing." The agency also operates a secure channel for federal whistleblower disclosures of violations of law,rule,or regulation;gross mismanagement;gross waste of funds;abuse of authority;and substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. In addition,OSC issues advice on the Hatch Act and enforces its restrictions on partisan political activity by government employees. Finally,OSC protects the civilian employment and reemployment rights of military service members under USERRA. OSC has around 140 staff,and the Special Counsel is an ex officio member of Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE),an association of inspectors general charged with the regulation of good governance within the federal government.
Kohn,Kohn &Colapinto is a Washington,D.C.-based international whistleblower rights law firm specializing in anti-corruption and whistleblower law,representing whistleblowers who seek rewards,or who are facing employer retaliation,for reporting violations of the False Claims Act,Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform,Sarbanes-Oxley Acts,Commodity and Security Exchange Acts and the IRS Whistleblower law.
David Keith Colapinto is an attorney for Kohn,Kohn &Colapinto,a Washington,D.C.,US,law firm specializing in employment law.
Joseph Grundfest is an American academic. He is the William A. Franke Professor of Law and Business at Stanford Law School and co-director of the Rock Center on Corporate Governance at Stanford University. He joined Stanford's faculty in 1990 after having served for more than four years as a Commissioner of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission,a position to which he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan.
The National Whistleblower Center (NWC) is a nonprofit,nonpartisan,tax exempt,educational and advocacy organization based in Washington,D.C. It was founded in 1988 by the lawyers Kohn,Kohn &Colapinto,LLP. As of June 2021,Siri Nelson is the executive director. Since its founding,the center has worked on whistleblower cases relating to environmental protection,nuclear safety,government and corporate accountability,and wildlife crime.
Stephen Martin Kohn is an attorney for Kohn,Kohn &Colapinto,a Washington,D.C.,law firm specializing in employment law. The author of the first legal treatise on whistleblowing,Kohn is recognized as one of the top experts in whistleblower protection law. He also has written on the subject of political prisoners and the history of the abrogation of the rights of political protestors.
Michael D. Kohn is a founding partner of the Washington,D.C.,law firm Kohn,Kohn &Colapinto,where he specializes in whistleblower protection law.
John J. Degnan was the Attorney General of New Jersey from 1978 until 1981. He was vice chairman and chief operating officer of The Chubb Corporation until 2010,and Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) from 2014 to 2017.
Environmental,social,and corporate governance (ESG),is a set of considerations,including environmental issues,social issues and corporate governance that can be considered in investing. Investing with ESG considerations is sometimes referred to as responsible investing or,in more proactive cases,impact investing.
Jay Brown is a law professor with specializations in corporations and corporate governance,business law,administrative law,and securities regulation. He currently teaches at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) is a proxy advisory firm. Hedge funds,mutual funds and similar organizations that own shares of multiple companies pay ISS to advise regarding share holder votes. It is the largest such firm,with over 61 percent of the business.
Daniel M. Gallagher,Jr. is an American lawyer in private practice who served as a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 2011 to 2015. Gallagher was appointed to the SEC by President Barack Obama. He also previously served as the deputy director and co-acting director of the Division of Trading and Markets.
Reuben A. Guttman,born 1959 in New York City,is an American attorney and a founding Partner of Guttman,Buschner &Brooks PLLC ("GBB"),a DC-based plaintiffs' firm His practice involves complex litigation and class actions. He has served as counsel in some of the largest recoveries under the False Claims Act. The International Business Times has called Guttman "one of the world's most prominent whistleblower attorneys," and he has been recognized as a Washingtonian Top Lawyer by Washingtonian Magazine.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) whistleblower program went into effect on July 21,2010,when the President signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The same law also established a whistleblower incentive program at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to incentivize reporting of violations of the Commodity Exchange Act,which is run by former senior SEC enforcement attorney Christopher C. Ehrman. The SEC Whistleblower Program rewards people who submit tips related to violations of the federal securities laws. The program offers robust employment protections,monetary awards and the ability to report anonymously. SEC whistleblowers are entitled to awards ranging from 10 to 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected,which are paid from a replenishing Investor Protection Fund. Since 2011,whistleblower tips have enabled the SEC to recover over $4.8 billion in financial penalties from wrongdoers. The SEC has awarded more than $1 billion to whistleblowers. The largest SEC whistleblower awards to date are $279 million,$114 million,$110 million,and $50 million.
Robert J. Jackson Jr. is an American lawyer and academic. He currently serves as a professor of law at New York University School of Law,where he is on public service leave. Jackson's research emphasizes the empirical study of executive compensation and corporate governance matters. On September 1,2017,the White House announced that President Donald Trump had nominated Jackson to fill the open Democratic seat on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Jackson was unanimously approved by the Senate Banking Committee for the seat,and thereafter unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on December 21,2017.
Brent James McIntosh is an American attorney who served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 2017 to 2019. He previously served as General Counsel of the United States Treasury. Prior to his government service,McIntosh was a partner at Sullivan &Cromwell and served as co-head of the firm's cybersecurity practice. Mcintosh is currently Citigroup's General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.
Caroline Abbey Crenshaw is an American attorney serving as a commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Jaime E. Lizárraga is an American political advisor and government official who has served as a commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since July 2022. A member of the Democratic Party,Lizárraga served as an aide to Nancy Pelosi from 2011 to 2022.
