How To Maximise Your SEC Whistleblower Reward

When we seek advice on how to invest our money or take out a mortgage, it's quite natural to expect that the information being given is in our best interests and will help to secure a safe future for ourselves and our family. However, this isn't necessarily the case and all too often we read of the sad demise of people who have lost their lifetime savings due to the unscrupulous behavior of certain companies and individuals. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) was set up to protect investors and to promote efficient, fair and orderly markets. If you have been duped into parting with your hard earned dollars on the pretext that you would profit financially from your investment, only to find that it was a scam, then by becoming an SEC whistleblower you may be rewarded for your efforts and hopefully, help prevent anyone else from suffering as you have done.

How SEC Whistleblowers came about

Following the financial crisis of 2008 which dealt a huge blow to the American economy, President Obama decreed that in future the government would have a much tighter reign on the financial institutions to prevent such a financial disaster from happening again. It was realised that to effectively monitor what was happening in the banks and other financial institutions, everybody needed to be on board and that included the general public. A law was passed called the Dodd Frank Act that authorised the SEC to pay individuals who divulged original information that would help the SEC bring successful cases. The reward can be anywhere between 10-30% of total monies recovered on frauds totalling in excess of $1 million, which gives an SEC whistleblower a very attractive incentive to deal the dirt.

Contacting an attorney should be your first step

It goes without saying that just because you may think you have uncovered a securities violation it may not be as cut and dried as you think. This is why in the first instance you would be well advised to seek the services of an attorney for advice. He may see all sorts of problems that would make it virtually impossible to put forward a successful case and will advise you accordingly. If, on the other hand there is a case to be proven, he will be able to do thorough investigations and hopefully get the government on board.

Maximising your case

Whilst your information may lead to a cash reward, it is imperative that your information is thorough, well documented and presented in a manner that will allow the SEC to take action. Here are some ways that could maximise your cash reward.

Provide documents and supporting materials
Actual documents that shed some light on potential corporate misdoings are an essential part of proving that the fraud actually took place. A whistleblower attorney should be able to help you prepare your documents for filing with the SEC.

Provide location of documents
Should you opt to become a SEC whistleblower the SEC is not going to expect you to have all of the relevant documentation. However, it would be helpful if you were able to provide lists of locations such as a physical address of a storage location, the location of a particular filing cabinet within the office, even specific computers which may hold relevant emails and other documents.

List of potential witnesses
You should also consider drawing up a list of potential witnesses detailing their knowledge and involvement of the alleged fraud. Again, an experience whistleblower attorney should be able to help you with this.

You should not engage in any illegal activities
It is also worth mentioning at the point that as a whistleblower you are not Magnum or Jason Bourne. You must never pry into a colleague’s hard drive or try and gain access to information from locations within the companies that you are denied entry to. Make sure that you don't actually violate company policies or the law. Your attorney will be able to brief you on what documents you are allowed access to.

Falling foul of dishonest investments is a tough call but you can fight back by reporting their behavior to the relevant bodies. Becoming an SEC whistleblower takes steely determination but doing the right thing never felt so good as it does in successful cases.