Dodd-Frank Act Whistleblowers

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, enacted in July 2010, attempts to address the financial industry abuses that led to the financial crisis in the late 2000s. The Act, initially proposed in June 2009 by Senator Chris Dodd and Representative Barney Frank, marks one of the most sweeping reforms of the financial industry and Wall Street since the Great Depression. The law’s most publicized features include greater regulation of the derivatives market and credit rating agencies, and limits on bank ownership of hedge funds and private-equity funds.

Dodd-Frank Act SEC Whistleblower Program

The law also includes significant new provisions for the SEC Whistleblower program, attempting to encourage whistleblowers to come forward with information about securities law violations.

The Dodd-Frank Act prohibits employers from retaliating against whistleblowers, who may sue for reinstatement if terminated for their participation in a whistleblower lawsuit. The Act also allows for the strongest whistleblower confidentiality provisions in federal whistleblower law, allowing whistleblowers to report fraud anonymously. The protections in the Dodd-Frank Act add to those that SEC whistleblowers already had under Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX).

Dodd-Frank Act allows SEC whistleblowers to report broader range of fraudulent activities

The Dodd-Frank Act amends the whistleblower provisions in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which only allowed whistleblowers to disclose information about insider trading. The new whistleblower provisions are substantially broader, allowing whistleblowers to report any violations of federal securities law, including insider trading and other types of market manipulation.