Kansas SEC Whistleblower Attorneys

Financial fraud schemes are hard to detect. This makes it difficult for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to ensure honest and fair dealings in the securities markets and full compliance with federal securities laws.

To obtain assistance in its regulatory and enforcement duties, the SEC has a special whistleblower program. This program provides a financial reward to individuals who report possible unlawful actions to the SEC and assist the SEC in its investigation into those claims.

To take advantage of this program, potential Kansas SEC whistleblowers must overcome many hurdles before receiving their reward. This is why it’s important to consult with an experienced SEC whistleblower attorney to help with this process. The Silver Law Group and the Law Firm of David R. Chase have created a strategic alliance to help you if you’re thinking about submitting a tip to the SEC Office of the Whistleblower.

To receive a reward, you must provide information to the SEC to lead to a successful enforcement action where the SEC collects more than $1 million from the wrongdoers. Your reward can vary but typically ranges between 10% and 30% of the total amount recovered by the SEC. Before you get too excited, you need to understand that there are strict eligibility requirements for this reward. Also, many tips sent to the SEC don’t result in an investigation, or if they do, they don’t result in an enforcement action where the SEC collects more than $1 million.

The SEC requires a large amount of information to prosecute securities violations successfully. As a result, SEC whistleblowers in Topeka, Overland Park, Wichita, and other parts of Kansas need to provide substantial information to the SEC. To be eligible for the whistleblower program reward, the information must be:

• Original: The SEC wants first-hand information about the alleged securities violations. Despite this requirement, whistleblowers aren’t required to first report potential wrongdoing through internal channels at their current employer, but doing so can increase the financial award.
• Significant: The SEC wants as much information as possible, with as many details as possible. The more in-depth the information, the higher the potential reward.
• Timely: The SEC wants information that they don’t already have. Ideally, the tip will include brand-new information for the SEC. Although a reward is possible even if the tip relates to something already on the SEC’s radar, the whistleblower must typically provide the information before the SEC starts an investigation or enforcement action.

One of the benefits of consulting with an experienced SEC whistleblower lawyer from Silver Law Group and the Law Firm of David R. Chase is that they can help you decide if the information you have meets the above requirements and can lead to a potential reward.

Since starting the whistleblower program in 2011, the SEC has provided more than $1 billion in rewards to whistleblowers. For example, in 2020, there was a whistleblower award of $114 million, and in 2023, there was a reward of $279 million.

In addition to these record-breaking awards, the SEC made changes to make it more likely that a reward was possible. For instance, the SEC made a whistleblower reward possible even if it resulted in a non-SEC enforcement action. Another change is that the SEC’s discretion to change the reward only applies to increasing the amount, not lowering it.

The range of potential tips a Wichita SEC whistleblower could send the SEC is vast. While accounting fraud might be what most people think of when they think of acting as an SEC whistleblower, schemes can include misconduct by broker-dealers and foreign bribery allegations. Other potential whistleblower tips include:

• Fraud by investment advisors
• Fraudulent securities offerings
• Ponzi schemes
• Insider trading
• Futures and commodities fraud
• Securities market manipulation
• Hedge fund fraud
• EB-5 investment fraud
• Insufficient reporting systems and protocols

In addition to navigating the complicated eligibility requirements for the whistleblower program, another challenge is dealing with retaliation. While there are protections to protect whistleblowers, companies often still find out who blew the whistle and retaliate against them. One of our SEC whistleblower attorneys can help you overcome these difficulties.

If you think you have a tip that could help the SEC and result in financial reward, the Law Firm of David R. Chase and the Silver Law Group can help. We not only have years of experience handling SEC whistleblower cases, but we have a broad understanding of how the program works. By way of example, our legal team includes a former SEC prosecutor and a Wall Street defense attorney. In other words, we know what the SEC is looking for from its whistleblowers. Contact us by email or at (800) 975-4345 for a free, confidential consultation.