Jan 9, 2022 | Blog
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced an award of more than $13 million to a whistleblower whose information and assistance prompted the opening of an investigation and significantly contributed to the success of an SEC enforcement action.
The whistleblower promptly alerted SEC staff to an ongoing fraud and provided extensive assistance to SEC staff by meeting in person and helping the staff understand the mechanics of the fraudulent scheme. The whistleblower’s information also helped the SEC obtain emergency relief to minimize investor losses.
The SEC has awarded approximately $1.2 billion to 238 individuals since issuing its first award in 2012. All payments are made out of an investor protection fund established by Congress that is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards. Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action. Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.
As set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose any information that could reveal a whistleblower’s identity.
Source: SEC.gov
Questions Or Concerns About Providing Information To The SEC About Securities Fraud?
If so, please know that Kehoe Law Firm’s legal team understands the issues associated with making the difficult decision to voluntarily come forward with information about securities fraud or other wrongdoing. Moreover, the Firm’s legal staff has extensive experience investigating and prosecuting fraud, as well as interacting with sources of information, especially brave, honest individuals who are willing to expose fraud committed against the United States government.
If you have questions or concerns about voluntarily providing information as a whistleblower to the SEC regarding violations of the federal securities laws, including questions about whistleblower award eligibility or the form and manner in which the information is required to be provided to the SEC, please complete the form on the right or contact Kehoe Law Firm, P.C., [email protected].
If you prefer to speak privately with an attorney, please contact either Michael Yarnoff, Esq., [email protected], (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, or John Kehoe, Esq., [email protected], (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801.
Jan 9, 2022 | Overtime & Wages
U.S. Department of Labor Recovers More Than $9.3 Million For Minnesota Employee Stock Ownership Plan After Investigation Finds Plan Overpaid For Shares – Order Protects Retirement Fund Of Kurt Manufacturing Company ESOP Eligible Employees
The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered more than $9.3 million for participants of a Minneapolis manufacturing company’s employee stock ownership plan (“ESOP”), after the fund overpaid for company stock in 2011, under the terms of a consent judgment entered in a federal court.
Entered in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota, the judgment ordered the ESOP’s previous trustee – Reliance Trust Company (“Reliance Trust”) – to restore $8,409,090 to the plan to resolve a lawsuit filed by the department. The court also ordered Reliance Trust to pay an $840,909 penalty for violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
The action follows an investigation by the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration and subsequent lawsuit alleging Reliance Trust caused the ESOP to overpay when it purchased the remaining shares of Kurt Manufacturing Company Inc. stock for $39 million in October 2011.
Kurt Manufacturing Company board members and fiduciaries of the company’s ESOP – Steven R. Carlsen, Paul A. Lillyblad and Kelli Watson – will restore $984,042 to the plan. The lawsuit alleged that, as the ESOP’s fiduciaries, the board members failed to monitor Reliance Trust’s determination of the stock’s value and allowed the company to purchase it for more than its true value. The court also ordered the directors to pay a $215,957 penalty for violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
In total, the department recovered $9,393,132 for the participants in the Kurt Manufacturing Company Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan.
The three Kurt Manufacturing Company board members also agreed to not participate in Kurt’s stock appreciation rights plan; forego their right as of July 1, 2021 to any future contributions from Kurt to the supplemental executive retirement plan and rescind agreements that provided termination severance payments of their contract salaries for two years. The court barred Lillyblad and Watson from serving as fiduciaries of the ESOP in the future and barred Carlsen from serving as a fiduciary to any ERISA-covered plans.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
Employees who believe their 401(k), employee stock option or other workplace retirement plan pension investments have suffered financial losses due to the breach of fiduciary duties by retirement plan administrators and the companies they represent are encouraged to complete the form on the right or contact Kehoe Law Firm, P.C., [email protected], for a free, no-obligation evaluation of potential legal claims.
Jan 9, 2022 | Data Breach
On November 9, 2021, the Medical Review Institute of America (“MRIoA”) discovered that it was the victim of a sophisticated cyber incident that resulted in unauthorized access to its network.
MRIoA has sent Notice of Data Breach letters on behalf of MRIoA customers which provided MRIoA information to facilitate a clinical peer review of a requested or received health care service.
Protected health information was, according to MRIoA, included in the incident. To date, however, MRIoA does not have “evidence indicating misuse of any of your information.”
According to MRIoA, “[t]he types of protected health information potentially involved (only if this information was provided to MRIoA by the organization named [in the data breach notification letter]) . . . demographic information (i.e., first and last name, gender, home address, phone number, email address, date of birth, and social security number); clinical information (i.e., medical history/diagnosis/ treatment, dates of service, lab test results, prescription information, provider name, medical account number, or anything similar in your medical file and/or record); and financial information (i.e., health insurance policy and group plan number, group plan provider, claim information). [Emphasis added.]
The following are some of MRIoA’s customers on whose behalf MRIoA submitted notification of the data breach:
Albertsons Companies • AllWays Health Partners • Ambetter from Home State Health • Ambetter From Superior Health Plan • Ambetter of North Carolina • Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois • Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas • Cambia Health Solutions • Capital Blue Cross • Cary Medical Center • Florida Blue • General Dynamics • Genex Services, LLC • Government Employees Health Association, Inc. • Health New England • Horizon • Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey • Magellan Rx Medicare Basic PDP • Maine General Health• National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan • North America Administrators • OptumRx • State of Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Office of Employee Health and Wellness • Sullivan Tire • The Associates’ Health and Welfare Plan • Twin Rivers Paper Company • University of Arkansas Medical Benefit Plan • WellCare
Please click Notice of Data Breach for more details about the MRIoA data breach.
Source: Office of The Maine Attorney General.
Have You Been Impacted by A Data Breach?
If so, please complete the form on the right or contact Kehoe Law Firm, P.C., [email protected], for a free, no-obligation evaluation of potential legal claims.
