House approves Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

On December 11, 2009, the United States House of Representatives approved The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173).  The legislation is aimed at reforming the financial services industry in the wake of the recent economic crisis.  Significantly, the legislation contains a whistleblower incentive program.  Under the program, the SEC would pay the whistleblower up to 30% of any monetary sanctions recovered by the SEC as a result of the whistleblower’s disclosure.  Furthermore, the legislation provides whistleblowers who have been retaliated against as a result of disclosing information, to the SEC investigation or to the SEC, a private right of action.

H.R. 4173 can be accessed by clicking: http://financialservices.house.gov/press.shtml