Reuters: Surge in SEC whistleblower awards sparks legal practice boomlet

For Reuters, Diana Novak Jones reports on a developing trend with Jordan Thomas and SEC Whistleblower Advocates PLLC on the forefront.  Namely, the emergence of firms completely specializing in representing whistleblowers who wish to report wrongdoing under the SEC’s whistleblower program.

Jordan is on record describing the program as having reached a significant level of maturity, and the numbers reflect this.  As reported by Jones, the program has granted six of the top 10 largest whistleblower awards since June 2020, with four of those in the last year.  More money was awarded to whistleblowers in FY 2021 than ever before in a single year.  Increased SEC staffing and new rules to weed out frivolous tips are cited as contributing factors.

The focus of the article was the launch of firms devoted exclusively to SEC whistleblower work, including SEC Whistleblower Advocates PLLC.  The article notes Jordan’s history as an assistant director at the SEC who helped to develop the whistleblower program during his time there.  It also discusses how he and his partners in the new firm previously represented whistleblowers in a case involving Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch brokerage unit, which resulted in the largest whistleblower award at the time.