Jul 15, 2020 | Whistleblower
SEC Issues $3.8 Million Whistleblower Award; SEC Has Awarded Approximately $505 Million To 87 Individuals Since 2012
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is making consumers aware that on July 14, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a $3.8 million award to a whistleblower who provided significant information that helped the SEC disrupt an ongoing fraudulent scheme. The resulting enforcement action returned millions of dollars to harmed investors.
“Today’s award underscores the paramount role the SEC’s whistleblower program plays in safeguarding the Main Street investor. Since the beginning of the program nearly ten years ago, the SEC has ordered more than $2.5 billion in financial remedies based on whistleblower information, including more than $1.4 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, of which almost $750 million has been returned or is scheduled to be returned to harmed investors,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.
The SEC has awarded approximately $505 million to 87 individuals since issuing its first award in 2012. This includes awards to 20 individuals in the last 10 months, totaling almost $119 million.
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 information that could reveal a whistleblower’s identity.
Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – SEC.gov
Jul 15, 2020 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
FTC Providing 27,083 Refund Checks To Victims of “Helping America Group” Scam
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is making consumers that on July 14, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it is sending more than $16 million to individuals who lost money to a debt relief scam that targeted tens of thousands of consumers facing financial difficulty.
The FTC and the Florida Office of the Attorney General alleged that a group of defendants known as Helping America Group got people to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars a month by falsely promising to pay, settle, or obtain dismissal of their debts and improve their credit scores. Over time, victims found their debts unpaid, their accounts in default, and their credit scores severely damaged—some were sued by their creditors, and some were forced into bankruptcy.
The FTC stated that it is providing 27,083 refund checks to victims of the scam. The FTC expects to collect additional money in this case, and plans to send a second round of checks at that time. Recipients should deposit or cash their checks within 90 days. The FTC never requires people to pay money or provide account information to cash a refund check. If recipients have questions about the refunds, they should contact the FTC’s refund administrator, JND Legal Administration, at (833) 928-2567.
Source: Federal Trade Commission – FTC.gov
Jul 13, 2020 | Securities Class Action Archive
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Kirby Corporation (“Kirby” or the “Company”) (NYSE: KEX) to determine whether Kirby engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.
Investors who purchased, or otherwise acquired, Kirby Corporation securities and suffered losses greater than $100,000 are encouraged to complete Kehoe Law Firm’s Securities Class Action Questionnaire or contact Kevin Cauley, Director, Business Development, (215) 792-6676, Ext. 802, [email protected], [email protected], to discuss the investigation or potential legal claims.
On July 10, 2020, Kirby announced that “[o]n July 8, 2020, Kirby . . . determined that it will be required to restate its previously issued unaudited condensed financial statements for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 previously filed on Form 10-Q on May 8, 2020. This determination occurred following discussions of the matter between KPMG and the officers of the Company. Accordingly, investors should no longer rely upon previously issued financial statements included in the Company’s previously filed Form 10-Q for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020.”
The Company also stated that it “. . . has determined its non-cash non-recurring goodwill impairment charge for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was understated by $127,933,000 before taxes, $98,773,000 after taxes, or a $1.65 loss per share, due to not applying a specific provision of a new accounting standard that the Company had recently adopted on January 1, 2020.”
On this news, Kirby’s stock price was down as much as 2.47% during intra-day trading on July 13, 2020.
Jul 13, 2020 | Securities Class Action Archive
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc. (“Commercial Vehicle” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: CVGI) to determine whether Commercial Vehicle engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.
Investors who purchased, or otherwise acquired, Commercial Vehicle securities and suffered losses are encouraged to complete Kehoe Law Firm’s Securities Class Action Questionnaire or contact Kevin Cauley, Director, Business Development, (215) 792-6676, Ext. 802, [email protected], [email protected], to discuss the investigation or potential legal claims.
Post-market, on March 16, 2020, the Company issued a press release which, among other things, stated that on March 12, 2020, the Audit Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors “. . . concluded that [the Company’s] audited consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2018 . . . and [the Company’s] unaudited consolidated financial statements as of and for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, June 30, 2019 and 2018, and September 30, 2019 and 2018 . . . should no longer be relied upon due to misstatements and that [the Company] will restate such financial statements to make the necessary accounting corrections.”
On this news, Commercial Vehicle’s share price fell $0.96 per share, or more than 38%, over the next two trading days, closing at $1.56 per share on March 18, 2020.
Jul 13, 2020 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
American Medical Technologies Reports Potential Data Security Incident Possibly Involving Personal Information
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is making consumers aware that American Medical Technologies (“AMT”) submitted a “breach notification sample” letter to the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, which, among other things, stated that “[o]n or about December 17, 2019 [AMT] discovered suspicious activity within an employee’s email account.” According to AMT, “[a]fter an extensive and comprehensive investigation and data mining process, on May 14, 2020, [AMT] learned that [one’s] personal information may have been available to the attacker during the incident.”
Of significance, AMT reported that its investigation disclosed that “. . . Social Security number, medical record number, diagnosis information, health insurance policy or individual subscriber number, medical history information, HIPAA account information, driver’s license/state identification number, or taxpayer ID number, may have been impacted by this incident.”
Have You Been Impacted by A Data Breach?
If so, please either contact Kehoe Law Firm, P.C., Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected], complete the form on the right or e-mail [email protected] for a free, no-obligation case evaluation of your facts to determine whether your privacy rights have been violated and whether there is a basis for a data privacy class action.
Examples of the type of relief sought by data privacy class actions, include, but are not limited to, reimbursement of identity theft losses and of out-of-pocket costs paid by data breach victims for protective measures such as credit monitoring services, credit reports, and credit freezes; compensation for time spent responding to the breach; imposition of credit monitoring services and identity theft insurance, paid for by the defendant company; and improvements to the defendant company’s data security systems.
Data privacy class actions are brought on a contingent-fee basis; thus, plaintiffs and the class members do not pay out-of-pocket attorney’s fees or litigation costs. Subject to court approval, attorney’s fees and litigation costs are derived from the recovery obtained for the class.
