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Wednesday, April 1, 2015

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