Attorney Dan Hurson used to work for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This week he cheered for the whistleblower provision in President Obama’s proposal to overhaul our regulations of financial markets. "This may be the beginning of the golden age of whistleblowing," he writes. "The potential for such a statute, covering all of the growing jurisdiction of the SEC, is vast."
"Of course, the SEC will have to listen to its whistleblowers, not just offer to pay them," he adds. Currently, the SEC can reward whistleblowers for providing information about insider trading. The new proposal would allow rewards for whistleblowers on any matter enforced by the SEC. Hurson hopes that the SEC will use the new authority to establish a whistleblower office to coordinate intake and encourage whistleblowing.