by Brian Mahany
This blog tries hard to stay away from politics. Whether you are a Republican, Democrat or disenfranchised doesn’t matter to us. The Democrats hold over the Senate and re-election of Barack Obama is a win for whistleblowers in financial fraud cases.
It’s no secret that the Wall Street elite and banking world donated heavily to Governor Romney and Republican senate candidates in key races. They lost. In our opinion, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a clear mandate to continue efforts at cracking down on financial fraud. Ditto for regulators charged with implementing the President’s Dodd-Frank reforms.
While we don’t think the federal government has been particularly effective in some of its mission, any uncertainty in direction was eliminated on Tuesday night.
So what exactly does this mean for whistleblowers and the business community? For business owners, particularly those in the financial services industry, expect continued enforcement efforts and more whistleblowers to come forward. Because studies have shown that most whistleblowers try to get someone inside the company to listen first before going to regulators, heed complaints of wrongdoing from within your organization.
For whistleblowers, the time is right to come forward and be counted. Especially if your concerns and pleas to company officials have been ignored. Although Washington grid lock probably won’t end anytime soon, the current political climate is less favorable to the big business interests on Wall Street.
Several GOP lawmakers attempted to water down the SEC’s whistleblower law last year. They wanted to require whistleblowers to report the problem internally first. (Studies show most workers do.) A few also wanted to repeal the mandatory cash awards paid by the SEC.
Not all Republicans were against the reforms and whistleblower programs. If one follows the money, however, the financial services sector was certainly funneling money towards the Senate GOP candidates. Obviously they expected an easier time if the Senate changed hands.
The fraud lawyers at Mahany & Ertl represent whistleblowers. We currently represent the whistleblower in the largest pending false claims act case pending anywhere in the United States against a lender – HUD’s $2.4 billion case against Allied Home Mortgage. If you have inside information about fraud or corruption that results in losses to the government and taxpayers, give us a call. All inquiries are kept in strict confidence.
For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany at or directly at (414) 704-6731.
Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Services available in many jurisdictions.
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