New York City, New York. September 17, 2014. In a speech delivered today at New York University School of Law, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder publicly endorsed enlarging U.S. whistleblower reward laws to include expanded rewards under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act, better known as “FIRREA.”
The Attorney General acknowledged the tremendous success of other whistleblower reward laws, explaining how incentivizing whistleblowers would “significantly improve the Justice Department’s ability to gather evidence of wrongdoing while complex financial crimes are still in progress – making it easier to complete investigations and to stop misconduct before it becomes so widespread that it foments the next crisis.”
Stephen M. Kohn, Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center, strongly praised Holder’s proposal:
“The Attorney General is spot-on. The current whistleblower reward laws have been remarkably successful in uncovering and policing tax and securities frauds. These laws are now the most important tools in the government’s arsenal against financial crimes. Expanding whistleblower reward incentives to the banking industry is crucial for protecting investors, taxpayers and the public interest.”
“Attorney General Holder is correct is recognizing that whistleblowers are absolutely key to the detection of fraud, and without strong protections and incentives, such as those contained in the False Claims Act, the overwhelming majority of fraud will go undetected, and white collar criminals will succeed in their schemes,” Kohn added.
A copy of Attorney General Holder’s speech is linked here.
Mr. Kohn has represented whistleblowers for over 30 years, including the most important bank whistleblower in U.S. history, Mr. Bradley Birkenfeld. Birkenfeld’s disclosures concerning illegal Swiss banking practices have resulted in over $5 billion dollars in recoveries for the U.S. taxpayers.
Mr. Kohn is available for comment, contact mjw@whistleblowers.org for details.