The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will meet at 9am on 2 September, 2020 to vote on proposed changes to the SEC’s highly successful Dodd-Frank Act whistleblower reward programme.  If approved as originally written, the proposed changes will undermine vital whistleblower protections, and place investors at significant risk of being harmed by increased fraud, according to whistleblower rights law firm of Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto. The firm has taken a leadership role in trying to convince the SEC Commissioners to reject all of the anti-whistleblower proposals.   Since the rules were originally proposed in 2018, whistleblower attorneys from the firm met with members of the Commission and their staffs. Joining the KKC attorneys at some of these meetings were representatives from the National Whistleblower Center and ENRON whistleblower/Time Magazine Person of the Year Sherron Watkins.    KKC partner Stephen M Kohn, who met directly with SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, Commissioners Robert J Jackson, Jr, Allison Herren Lee, and Hester M Peirce, and with the responsible staff persons for Commissioner Elad L Roisman, the Office of General Counsel, and the Office of the Whistleblower to discuss the proposed changes has issued the following statement:    “The Commissioners and their staffs were open to hearing our concerns. We sincerely hope that the Commission does not approve the rules as originally proposed. The changes will cause untold harm to whistleblowers and undermine the current SEC program.   “Instead, we hope that the Commission has acted on the recommendations submitted by my firm, numerous whistleblowers, and numerous advocacy groups for whistleblowers and investors, and will use this opportunity to improve the program.   “Especially in light of the large scale frauds being committed due to Covid-19 issues, the time is right to improve the whistleblower program, not undermine its effectiveness.  

SEC Commission to vote on changes to the Wall Street whistleblower law on 2 September