Katz, Marshall & Banks partner David J. Marshall was quoted in a recent National Law Journal article discussing a whistleblower’s challenge to the long delay by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in issuing a determination as to whether the whistleblower would receive an award under the agency’s Whistleblower Reward Program. The anonymous whistleblower in question filed his or her claim in October 2012, and waited over three years before filing a petition for a writ of mandamus requesting that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit compel the SEC to rule on his award application. For more information on the whistleblower’s petition, read Katz, Marshall & Banks litigation fellow Sam Kramer’s blog on the topic.
Mr. Marshall, who represents whistleblowers who submit tips to the SEC, noted that while he understood the whistleblower’s frustration, the SEC whistleblower office has generally been “very attentive to the needs and the interests of whistleblowers, from the preparation and submission of tips to claiming awards.” Mr. Marshall suggested that the delays were likely a result of inadequate funding and staffing, noting that while the number of tips and award applications had escalated rapidly in recent years, the SEC whistleblower office “has not been able to ramp up its staff in the appropriate proportion.”
