SEC Awards More Than $2.2 Million to Whistleblower Who First Reported Information to Another Federal Agency Before SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a whistleblower award of more than $2.2 million to a former company insider whose tips helped the agency open an investigation that led to an enforcement action.  The whistleblower first reported the information to another federal agency and later provided the same information to the SEC.

This is the first award paid under the “safe harbor” of Exchange Act Rule 21F-4(b)(7), which provides that if a whistleblower submits information to another federal agency and submits the same information to the SEC within 120 days, then the SEC will treat the information as though it had been submitted to the SEC at the same time that it was submitted to the other agency.

The whistleblower voluntarily reported information to a federal agency covered by the rule, which referred the matter to the SEC.  The SEC then opened an investigation.  Within 120 days of the initial report, the whistleblower provided the same information to the SEC and later provided substantial cooperation in the investigation.  Although the SEC report came after the staff had opened its investigation, the SEC treated the submission as though it had been made when the whistleblower provided the information to the other agency.

“Whistleblowers, especially non-lawyers, may not always know where to report, or may report to multiple agencies,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.  “This award shows that whistleblowers can still receive an award if they first report to another agency, as long as they also report their information to the SEC within the 120-day safe harbor period and their information otherwise meets the eligibility criteria for an award.” read more »

Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s Ousted President, Gets 24 Years in Prison

Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s impeached and ousted president, was sentenced on Friday to 24 years in prison on a variety of criminal charges, in a case that exposed the entrenched, collusive ties between South Korea’s government and huge conglomerates like Samsung.

A three-judge panel at the Seoul Central District Court also ordered Ms. Park to pay $17 million in fines, in a ruling that marked a climactic moment in an influence-peddling scandal that shook the country’s political and business worlds.

Ms. Park’s conviction on bribery, coercion, abuse of power and other charges was the first lower-court ruling on a criminal case to be broadcast live in South Korea. She is the country’s first former leader to be arrested and convicted of crimes since two former military-backed presidents were found guilty of sedition and corruption in the 1990s. read more »

Delta Says Data Exposed for ‘Several Hundred Thousand’ Customers

Cyber attack adds to a growing list of industry breaches, Names and payment-card information may have been exposed

Delta Air Lines Inc. said a cyber attack on a contractor potentially exposed the payment information of “several hundred thousand customers.”

A data breach from Sept. 26 to Oct. 12 at a company called [24]7.ai allowed unauthorized access to customers’ names, address, payment-card information, CVV numbers and expiration dates, Delta said in a statement Thursday. The vendor, which provides online chat services to Delta, notified the carrier and other clients last week.

The incident adds to a growing list of U.S. companies announcing cyber attacks in the past week that exposed the data of millions of people and, in some cases, sought to compromise operations. The attacks have affected a broad swath of industries, including retailers Hudson Bay Co. and Under Armour Inc., aerospace giant Boeing Co., natural gas pipelines and electric utilities. read more »

Lula, Brazil’s Ex-President, Can Be Jailed, Court Rules

Brazil’s top court ruled early Thursday that former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva can be sent to prison while he continues to appeal his corruption conviction — an explosive decision that upends the nation’s politics and appears to quash his bid to return to power.

There was more at stake than the legal fate of Mr. da Silva, 72, a towering and divisive figure in Brazilian politics who has a considerable lead in the polls for October’s presidential election.

Mr. da Silva, who is known commonly as Lula, has been trying to reclaim the presidency. But last July, he was convicted of corruption and money laundering, and sentenced to almost 10 years in prison. In January, an appeals court unanimously upheld the conviction and increased the sentence to 12 years.read more »

Company boss gets 3 years for $5M kickback scheme

The president of a New Mexico-based defense contractor, Neal Kasper, 68, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to more than three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to his involvement in a $5 million kickback scheme to award construction subcontracts for rebuilding projects in Iraq.

Kasper, of Great Falls, Mont., pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to provide, solicit and accept kickbacks while he was president of the Laguna Construction Company, and accepting $204,356 in payments from subcontractors between April 2007 and November 2008.

U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez sentenced Kasper to 41 months of imprisonment followed by two years of supervised release and ordered him to forfeit $431,911, which represents part of the net profit he derived from the crimes with which he was charged in this case.

Vazquez also sentenced Kasper’s wife, Tiffany White, 51, of Cibolo, Texas, to one day of imprisonment, or time served, followed by two years of supervised release. read more »