Power Plant at night, representing CFTC Whistleblower Program

OIG reviewing CFTC Whistleblower Program as Administration of Reward Programs Gets Scrutinized

CFTC Whistleblower Program Review The Office of the Inspector General has refocused on an investigation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Office to determine why there have been fewer awards concerning violations of the Commodity Exchange Act or CFTC rules as a result of Dodd-Frank and to recommend best practices. The CFTC has now...

Accounting pages and a coffee mug, representing internal and external audits

Whistleblowers Discover More Fraud than Internal or External Audits in Official 2015 Annual Global Fraud Report

Internal or External Audits Pale in Comparison Fraud within companies is on the rise and whistleblowers are playing a crucial role in helping detect it, according to the eighth annual Global Fraud Report produced by Kroll and released in late November. Three quarters (75%) of companies responding to the survey suffered a “fraud incident” within...

Fed building facade against stairs in city, representing the IRS whistleblower program

GAO Reports on IRS Whistleblower Program

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has issued a report on the IRS whistleblower program following a year long audit of the program, its operation and the underlying data generated. The 2015 report concludes that the financial incentives of the rewards program have led to billions collected but that delays and communications problems may discourage whistleblowing....

A person with hands folded in front of computer, representing high speed trading

CFTC Proposes New Regulations for High Speed Trading

Proposal for High Speed Trading The CFTC has launched its first proposal for regulating automated trading in the futures market. The regulations, which will be subject to a 90-day public comment period, are still months, if not years, away from being implemented. The CFTC proposal contains a number of initiatives, including: Registration of automated trading...

Tax Documents on the Table, representing tax inversions

Corporate Tax Inversions Possibly Curbed in New, Helpful Rules Proposed by IRS Proposes in 2015

Tax Inversions Curbed The Internal Revenue Service and its parent, the Treasury Department, have adopted new rules to block companies from moving abroad for lower taxes. The new rules, as well as additional strategies still under consideration to block corporate inversions, are a stopgap measure by the Treasury Department until Congress decides to take legislative...

Close up of Court, representing Expanded Whistleblower Program

SEC Director Emphasizes Self-Reporting of FCPA Violations

The SEC Director of the Division of Enforcement, Andrew Ceresney, sent companies a message in the keynote address of the ACI’s 32nd FCPA Conference: If they do not self-report violations, they will not be eligible for a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) or non-prosecution agreement (NPA). The speech dovetails with a proposed policy at the Justice...

Whistleblower Case: $95.5M Settlement in Education Management

Education Management Corp, a for-profit college company often abbreviated as EDMC, has settled a whistleblower lawsuit brought under the False Claims Act alleging illegal recruiting practices for $95.5 million. Education Management is the second-largest operator of for-profit colleges in the United States. It teaches more than 100,000 students enrolled across the nation in Brown-Mackie College,...

DOJ Considering Guidance on FCPA Penalties to Enhance Self-Disclosure

The Justice Department may be revising its guidelines for prosecution of FCPA violations to encourage self-reporting by making the process more transparent, according to recent articles by the Washington Post and Financial Times. A draft of the policy strongly recommends Justice Department attorneys issue a declination to corporate criminal charges in cases where a company...

100 Us Dollar Banknotes, representing False Claims Act

IRS Continues Reduced Whistleblower Awards Under Sequestration

If you receive an IRS whistleblower award during the next two years, you will get less than the percentage you are awarded by the Internal Revenue Service. As a result of budget bills imposing sequestration on federal agencies, IRS awards for FY2015 are being reduced 7.3% and FY2016 awards (from October 1, 2015 to September...

Selective Focus Photography of Wheat Field, representing Commodities for the CFTC and the CFTC Whistleblower Program

CFTC Record $3.14 Billion Civil Monetary Penalties in FY2015

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission set a record for its largest amount of civil monetary penalties from enforcement actions in fiscal year 2015, announcing $3.144 billion in wrongdoer penalties. The CFTC pursued a number of high dollar actions in FY2015, including imposing an $800 million penalty against Deutsche Bank for LIBOR manipulation. The amount...

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