In the largest such award so far this year, the SEC has awarded more than $27 million to a whistleblower, an award amount that the Commission increased above staff recommendations in recognition that the whistleblower had “repeatedly and tenaciously” voiced his concerns about the misconduct within his organization before reporting it to the agency. As discussed below, there are a number of noteworthy features about this award. The Commission’s April 16, 2020 order about the award can be found here. The Commission’s April 16, 2020 press release about the award can be found here.
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How Will the Trump Administration Affect D&O Claims?
A recurring question – one that I am getting now on just about a daily basis – arises from concerns about the Trump administration’s possible impact on the world of directors’ and officers’ liability. Implicit in the question is the assumption that the new administration’s policies and actions will indeed affect D&O claims. While I agree with this assumption – that the new administration’s actions will have an impact–at this point it is still far too early to tell what that impact might be. For now, I think all we can do is watch some key indicators. In this blog post, I review what I think are the key indicators, and what the indicators may tell us about what lies ahead for D&O claims.
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Guest Post: “Robocop” on the Beat:What the SEC’s New Financial Reporting and AQM Initiative May Mean for Public Companies
With the arrival of the new Chair of the SEC, Mary Jo White, the agency has undertaken a variety of new enforcement initiatives. Among the most interesting is the agency use of data anallytics to try to uncover public company accouunting abuses. The following guest post from Christopher L. Garcia, Paul Ferrillo of the
More About the D&O Insurance Implications of the SEC’s New Admissions Wrongdoing Requirements
Numerous questions surround the SEC’s new policy requiring enforcement action defendants in “egregious” cases to admit to wrongdoing in order to settle with the agency, rather than simply agreeing to neither admit nor deny the agency’s allegations. As I discussed in a prior post (here), among the questions is the issue of what