If you blew the whistle on an investment scheme, securities fraud, or other violation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), you should be awarded accordingly. Whistleblowers take a great personal risk by coming forward, particularly as employees of a company engaging in such securities fraud.
When you are issued an award, and it is far less than you were expecting, you have the right to file an appeal regarding your SEC whistleblower award determination. Continue reading to learn more about how to appeal.
Before your reward is issued, the SEC review team will notify you—probably through your attorney—of your preliminary determination. If this amount is significantly less than we believe you are entitled to, we can file a reconsideration request within sixty days.
From there, the SEC reviewers will reevaluate your case and hopefully issue you a proposed determination that more reasonably meets your level of effort as a contributing whistleblower. If they uphold their preliminary determination, we’ll have no choice but to move your appeal forward to court.
The only other opportunity for a whistleblower award appeal is through the U.S. Court of Appeals. This needs to be done within thirty days of your reconsideration request denial.
If the court of appeals rules in your favor, it will then be responsible for determining how much you should be awarded. However, if the amount awarded in the preliminary determination is between 10 percent and 30 percent of the SEC’s recovered sanctions, your appeal will be denied at either level of appeals.
Do you believe you should have been awarded more than the SEC’s review team’s preliminary determination? If so, contact an experienced SEC whistleblower lawyer at Meissner Associates today. You can find us online or give our office a call at 1-866-764-3100 to schedule your confidential tip evaluation.
