Speaking Up and Blowing the Whistle is NOT Really Rewarded, You Risk ALL - it Should NOT Be that Way.

" Imagine being in a situation in which you knew you had to be quiet in order to advance your own personal career, rather than speaking up and blowing the whistle on irregularities and improprieties within your firm.

This message is consistently relayed by many a whistleblower who has suffered from having tried to do the right thing. What is the result?

Firms tout their virtuous values of integrity, respect, and excellence while effectively muzzling those who would blow the whistle on crimes and illegal practices.

I believe this reality is all too present in many, if not most, industries in our society today. There is absolutely no doubt it is present on Wall Street. Why do I write this?

A recently released report from the SEC’s Office of Inspector General David Kotz highlights the fact that the ‘whistles on Wall Street’ have been largely silent for a long time.

The Project on Government Oversight highlights this report in a recent commentary,

Not Much Bounty for SEC Whistleblower Program:

For more than 20 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has had a program in place to reward whistleblowers who provide the agency with information about insider trading.

But a new audit by the SEC Office of Inspector General (OIG) reveals that the program has almost never been used, is barely recognized inside or outside the SEC, and has fundamental design flaws.

It turns out the SEC has received very few applications in the past two decades for bounties under the program — and only five people have actually received payments since the program first began:"

Source and Full article with Additional Documents
http://www.senseoncents.com/2010/04/wall-streets-code-of-silence/#comments

Some Comments from On SEC Whistleblowers Above Link

"Does America truly think that a career regulator with longstanding ties within the financial industry can break Wall Street’s “code of silence”? "

" .... make sure America knows that there really is no pretense of investor protection so they can move forward accordingly. "

"Better not to even have the whistleblower program, though, than to pretend it exists. Lastly, the heads of all the banks should be called on the carpet and mandated to outline whistleblower protection programs within their organizations."

"Well, I I guess I thought it has been proven painfully obvious that we had no investor protection from FINRA and that obviously holds true for the SEC as well, but I guess you are right.. the public needs to hear about it again and again until they get it and insist that their representatives take meaningful action to fix things. "

Other Links on Peter Sivere SEC, JP Morgan Whistleblower

SEC IG Report: George Demos Pimped Peter Sivere; (January 28, 2010)

Posted here By
Crystal L. Cox
Investigative Blogger