On Friday, July 23, 2010, the National Whistleblower Center (NWC) hosted a seminar on the False Claims Act
that included a special presentation on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that was recently signed into law. Stephen M. Kohn, Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center, gave the presentation on the new financial regulations and whistleblower protections outlined in the new law.
Along with creating better financial regulations to prevent problems on Wall Street that have affected the nation, the bill also includes better whistleblower protections and increases the statute of limitations for retaliation claims under the False Claims Act to 3 years. The bill has created two new qui tam provisions for commodities and securities exchanges, thus providing employees who witness fraud the ability to report it and sue on behalf of the government. The bill also closes a loophole in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, assuring coverage for whistleblowers employed by subsidiary companies. Mr. Kohn stated that this bill might possibly be the single most important whistleblower protection law in the United States, aside from the First Amendment and the False Claims Act.
After the presentation on the Dodd-Frank bill, Michael Kohn, NWC President, David Colapinto, NWC General Counsel, and Tony Munter, an NWC Attorney, gave a presentation on the False Claims Act and how to integrate it into one’s law practice. They gave a run-down of the steps involved in screening clients with potential False Claims Act cases and the steps involved in filing and litigating such a case.
If you are an attorney and would like to be added to the NWC’s list for notification on upcoming events, please contact Lindsey M. Williams at lmw@whistleblowers.org. The full agenda and written materials from the seminar are available here.
*Phil Shank (NWC intern) drafted this post.
