Do You Need an FCPA Lawyer?
Has your employer retaliated against you because you exposed corporate corruption?
- Have you uncovered illegal activity that you wish to report?
- Have you reported the bribery of foreign government officials by U.S. companies?
- Do you need to protect your career because you reported your employer’s illegal or unethical conduct?
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is best known as an anti-bribery law. The law resulted from a series of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations in the 1970s that revealed American corporations had made more than $300 million in illegal bribes to foreign officials. Though the FCPA contains a very broad anti-bribery provision, it also has a robust, complementary accounting transparency provision. A company’s books must accurately reflect the substance and value of its transactions.
The FCPA does not directly protect whistleblowers. However, many other federal laws may provide anti-retaliation protections depending on the specific circumstances. For example, Sarbanes-Oxley usually protects the employees of public companies who disclose FCPA violations. However, you may have to take additional action to safeguard your reputation and financial stability. Section 922 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act prohibits retaliation against those who make disclosures to the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC). The Sarbanes Oxley Act and the Dodd Frank Act protect employees who disclose FCPA violations internally and to the SEC. If you were fired illegally, the Sarbanes Oxley Act and Dodd Frank Act may help you to get your job back.
You may also be able to qualify for a reward for reporting information to the SEC. The Dodd Frank Act requires the SEC to pay a reward to whistleblowers who voluntarily disclose original information regarding securities law violations – including violations of the FCPA and Sarbanes-Oxley Act that lead to a sanction exceeding $1 million. In addition to the SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is also now required to reward whistleblowers who report securities fraud.
Awards for whistleblowers range from 10% to 30% of the total amount recovered by the SEC as a result of the information provided by the whistleblower. Additionally, employees who disclose information about fraudulent of unlawful conduct to the SEC are protected from retaliation by their employers.