NWC Defends SEC Whistleblower Program Amid Growing Attack On Commission Chair

Washington, DC – WEBWIRE – Monday, June 15, 2015

Washington, D.C. June 15, 2015. In a letter sent today to President Obama, the National Whistleblower Center responded to a growing attack on the Chair of the Securities Exchange Commission. The National Whistleblower Center strongly praised the SEC’s new whistleblower program, and warned that efforts to ensure corporate transparency and accountability would be stifled if the President removed Chair White from her position.

The letter pointed out the important SEC ruling outlawing restrictive corporate nondisclosure agreements as an example of the important whistleblower protection rulings made by the Commission under its current Chair.

National Whistleblower Center Executive Director Stephen M. Kohn wrote:

“To suggest at this critical time the removal of the Chair of the SEC, who had the foresight and courage to take on outrageous corporate practices and to support whistleblowers, in light of the apathy and inaction of other agencies, would be a blow to transparency, and a grave set back to the government’s ability to fight financial corruption and effectively use insider information to hold corporate wrongdoers accountable.”

National Whistleblower Center played a major role in ensuring that Dodd-Frank Act contained provisions protecting employees from retaliation and that the SEC’s whistleblower reward program was effectively implemented by the Commission. Today’s letter was sent to ensure that the progress made by the Commission bolstering its whistleblower program would not be undermined by efforts to have Chair White fired.