New Whistleblower Strategy: Companies and whistleblowers to work together

Delaware companies linked to Harry Markopolos, the fraud investigator who tried for eight years to get the SEC to shut down Madoff's Ponzi scheme, have filed lawsuits against major banks alleging these banks defrauded public pension funds. According to Taxpayers Against Fraud spokesman Patrick Burns, allowing companies to seek a share of the damages recovered in fraud cases helps protect the anonymity of whistleblowers who come forward with evidence of wrongdoing because those companies are in the public limelight rather than the individuals.

Motley Rice whistleblower attorney Mark Labaton, who has worked with Markopolos, told Reuters news service that this strategy appears to be a creative way to provide some additional protection to the whistleblowers and those working with them.

In November 2010, the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed adding a section to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act's whistleblower program to protect whistleblowers and encourage them to come forward by using monetary incentives. The finalization of this proposal is anticipated to occur in April 2011.

Learn more about the Dodd-Frank reform.

Read more about protecting whistleblowers in an article featured by Reuters.

Read more about qui tam cases and whistleblower protection and how Motley Rice whistleblower lawyers are fighting on behalf of individuals and businesses suffering as a result of corporate fraud.