Primarily as a result of the recent dramatic increase in the U.S. government’s enforcement effort, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) has received a great deal of attention of late. The financial reform legislation signed by President Obama on July 21, 2010 adds an incentive that will likely further increase the dangers posed to companies and individuals by the FCPA. The law contains a provision that will reward whistleblowers who voluntarily provide information leading to the successful enforcement of U.S. securities laws, including the FCPA, with between 10% and 30% of any recovery over $1,000,000. The whistleblower must provide "original" information, not already known to the SEC and not merely derived from existing investigations, audits, or reports. The SEC will have discretion to set the amount within the 10% – 30% range, based on the significance of the information to the success of the action, the whistleblower’s degree of assistance, and the interest of the SEC in using whistleblower payments to deter problematic conduct in the future. The provision also extends the reward to "related actions" taken by other prosecuting agencies based on the reported information, and thus will apply to actions initiated by the DOJ and other federal, state, and foreign law enforcement agencies.Continue Reading Whistleblower Provision Likely to Increase FCPA Risk