SEC Settles 1st Whistleblower Protection Case Against #KBR: Employees Can Now Testify Without Fear of Retribution

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the first enforcement action against a violation involving the use of restrictive language in employee confidentiality agreements. This language is prohibitive in the process of enforcing securities laws and makes whistleblowers reluctant to come forward even if they are given an award.

By requiring its employees and former employees to sign confidentiality agreements imposing pre-notification requirements before contacting the SEC, KBR potentially discouraged employees from reporting securities violations to us.

-Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement

KBR (NYSE: KBR) is an engineering firm based in Houston, Texas that is charged with violating Rule 21F-17.  KBR required witnesses in certain internal investigations interviews to sign confidentiality agreements. The agreements warned that they could face legal action or be fired for discussing matters without KBR's approval. This includes securities law violations which is in violation of Rule 21F-17. KBR  has agreed to pay $130,000 to settle the charges. The company also amended it's confidentiality agreements.

The order made no mention of any other violations against KBR or its employees, but perhaps this change in policy and language was needed before a whistleblower at the company would come forward.

If you have information about one of the cases the SEC is working on now you may be eligible for whistleblower award too. There are currently 35 cases that the SEC is seeking information on. You can read more about these cases on the Whistleblower website. Some of the cases are also listed below.

2015-35	SEC v. Lawrence "Lee" Loomis, Loomis Wealth Solutions, LLC, John Hagener, and Lismar Financial Services, LLC Case Number: 10-cv-00458 (United States District Court for the Eastern District of California) Case Filed: February 23, 2010 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 21, 2015
2015-34	SEC v. Steven Scoppetuolo, Robert Tocci, Sarang Ahuja, Richard White and Eric Gordon Case Number: 10-cv-20475 (United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida) Case Filed: February 16, 2010 Qualifying Judgment/Order: March 27, 2013
2015-33	SEC v. Robert A Walker, Dennis L. DeSender, and DLD Financial, LTD Case Number: 11-cv-03655 (United States District Court for the District of Minnesota) Case Filed: December 21, 2011 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 30, 2015
2015-32	SEC vs. Mark F. Spangler and The Spangler Group, Inc. Case Number: 12-cv-00856 (United States District Court for the Western District of Washington) Case Filed: May 17, 2012 Qualifying Judgment/Order: November 13, 2014
2015-31	SEC v. John Gray, Christian Keller, Kyle Martin, and Aaron Shepard Case Number: 15-cv-00551 (United States District Court for the Northern District of California) Case Filed: February 5, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: March 2, 2015
2015-30	SEC v. World Capital Market Inc.; WCM777 Inc.; WCM777 Ltd. d/b/a WCM777 Enterprises, Inc.; and Ming Xu a/k/a Phil Ming Xu Case Number: 14-cv-02334 (United States District Court for the Central District of California) Case Filed: March 27, 2014 Qualifying Judgment/Order: February 20, 2015
2015-29	SEC v. China Sky One Medical, Inc., and Yan-Qing Liu Case Number: 12-cv-07543 (United States District Court for the Central District of California) Case Filed: September 4, 2012 Qualifying Judgment/Order: March 4, 2015
2015-28	In the Matter of Sandra Dyche Administrative Proceeding File No.: 3-16398 Case Filed: February 20, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: February 20, 2015
2015-27	SEC v. Edwin Yoshihiro Fujinaga and MRI International, Inc. Case Number: 13-cv-01658 (United States District Court for the District of Nevada) Case Filed: September 11, 2013 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 27, 2015
2015-26	In the Matter of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Administrative Proceeding File No.: 3-16400 Case Filed: February 24, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: February 24, 2015
2015-25	In the Matter of BDO China Dahua CPA Co., Ltd.; Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Certified Public Accountants Ltd.; Ernst & Young Hua Ming LLP; KPMG Huazhen (Special General Partnership); PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian CPAs Limited Administrative Proceeding File Nos.: 3-14872, 3-15116 Case Filed: February 6, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: February 6, 2015
2015-24	SEC v. Lee Chi Ling Case Number: 13-cv-05364 (United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York) Case Filed: September 26, 2013 Qualifying Judgment/Order: February 11, 2015
2015-23	SEC v. Broadwind Energy, Inc., J. Cameron Drecoll, and Stephanie K. Kushner Case Number: 15-cv-01142 (United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois) Case Filed: February 5, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: February 18, 2015
2015-22	In the Matter of VCAP Securities, LLC, and Brett Thomas Graham Administrative Proceeding File No.: 3-16389 Case filed: February 19, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: February 19, 2015
2015-21	SEC v. GLR Capital Management, LLC, GLR Advisors, LLC, Geringer, Luck & Rode LLC, and John A. Geringer Case number: 12-cv-02663 (United States District Court for the Northern District of California) Case filed: May 24, 2012 Qualifying Judgment/Order: February 3, 2015
2015-20	SEC v. Chan Tze Ngon and Jiang Xiangyuan Case number: 13-cv-06828 (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) Case filed: September 26, 2013 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 16, 2015
2015-19	In the Matter of UBS Securities LLC Administrative Proceeding File No.: 3-16338 Case filed: January 15, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 15, 2015
2015-18	SEC v. Wwebnet, Inc. and Robert L. Kelly Case number: 12-cv-06581 (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) Case filed: August 28, 2012 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 16, 2015
2015-17	SEC v. Magdalena Tavella, Andres Horacio Ficicchia, Gonzalo Garcia Blaya, Lucia Mariana Hernando, Cecilia de Lorenzo, Adriana Rosa Bagattin, Daniella Patricia Goldman, Mariano Pablo Ferrari, Mariano Graciarena, and Fernando Loureyro Case number: 13-cv-04609 (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) Case filed: July 3, 2013 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 9, 2015
2015-16	In the Matter of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Administrative Proceeding File No.: 3-16361 Case filed: January 27, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 27, 2015
2015-15	SEC v. Avon Products, Inc. Case number: 14-cv-09956 (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) Case filed: December 17, 2014 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 8, 2015
2015-14	SEC v. Advanced Equity Partners, LLC, Premiere Consulting, LLC, Peter D. Kirschner, and Stuart M. Rubens Case number: 13-cv-62100 (United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida) Case filed: September 26, 2013 Qualifying Judgment/Order: December 9, 2014
2015-13	In the Matter of International Capital Group, LLC, Brian R. Nord, Larry Russell, Jr., and Todd J. Bergeron Administrative Proceeding File No.: 3-16366 Case filed: January 29, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 29, 2015
2015-12	In the Matter of Standard & Poor's Rating Services Administrative Proceeding File No.: 3-16348 Case Filed: January 21, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 21, 2015
2015-11	In the Matter of Standard & Poor's Rating Services Administrative Proceeding File No.: 3-16346 Case Filed: January 21, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 21, 2015
2015-10	In the Matter of EDGA Exchange, Inc., and EDGX Exchange, Inc. Administrative Proceeding File No.: 3-16332 Case Filed: January 12, 2015 Qualifying Judgment/Order: January 12, 2015
2015-9	SEC v. Michael B. Ferguson and Transactions Unlimited Case Number: 14-cv-04188 (United States District Court for the Northern District of California) Case Filed: September 29, 2014 Qualifying Judgment/Order: November 13, 2014
2015-8	SEC v. John N. Irwin, CPA and Jacklin Associates, Inc. Case Number: 11-cv-04429 (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania) Case Filed: July 11, 2011 Qualifying Judgment/Order: December 19, 2014
2015-7	SEC v. Alternative Green Technologies, Inc., Mitchell Segal, Belmont Partners, LLC, Joseph Meuse, Howard Borg, David Ryan, Vikram Khanna, and Panascope Capital Inc. Case Number: 11-cv-09056 (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) Case Filed: December 12, 2011 Qualifying Judgment/Order: December 15, 2014
2015-6	SEC v. Larry R. Polhill Case Number: 13-cv-01729 (United States District Court for the Central District of California) Case Filed: September 24, 2013 Qualifying Judgment/Order: December 6, 2014
2015-5	SEC v. Bill C. (Billy) Crafton, Jr. Case Number: 14-cv-02916 (United States District Court for the Southern District of California) Case Filed: December 10, 2014 Qualifying Judgment/Order: December 17, 2014
2015-4	SEC v. Heart Tronics, Inc., Mitchell Jay Stein, Willie James Gault, J. Rowland Perkins, II, Martin Bert Carter, Mark Crosby Nevdahl, and Ryan Allan Rauch Case Number: 11-cv-01962 (United States District Court for the Central District of California) Case Filed: December 21, 2011 Qualifying Judgment/Order: December 10, 2014
2015-3	SEC vs. Brian N. Hollnagel and BCI Aircraft Leasing, Inc. Case Number: 07-cv-04538 (United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois) Case filed: August 13, 2007 Qualifying judgment/order: December 18, 2014
2015-2	In the Matter of Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC Administrative Proceeding File No.: 3-16310 Case Filed: December 10, 2014 Qualifying Judgment/Order: December 10, 2014
2015-1	In the Matter of Bruker Corporation Administrative Proceeding File No.: 3-16314 Case Filed: December 15, 2014 Qualifying Judgment/Order: December 15, 2014

http://www.sec.gov/about/offices/owb/owb-awards.shtml