At a recent conference held by the Corporate Crime Reporter, Stephen Cohen, the Associate Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said that it was “undeniable” that the SEC whistleblower program had turbocharged the SEC’s enforcement efforts. Cohen predicted that in the next couple of months, there would be “some extremely significant whistleblower awards” coming from “incredibly impactful cases.”

Cohen added, “We are receiving information from individuals much closer in time to the misconduct, in some instances during the misconduct, and these individuals are often insiders, which is very unusual, are in a position to point us precisely to where the useful information is and save us extraordinary resources.”

Neil Getnick, managing partner of Getnick & Getnick LLP, moderated the panel. Getnick emphasized the potential for whistleblower laws to be used as a tool for business: “whistleblower laws in general and the SEC whistleblower law in particular ha[ve] the potential to level the playing field against overseas bribery and unfair competition.” Such use, he argued, has the potential to reform not just companies and industries, but whole markets.

Read the entire article, “SEC’s Cohen Predicts Major Whistleblower Awards Soon”