Washington, D.C. November 10, 2010. Today, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) proposed rules to implement the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Section 23 of the Commodity Exchange Act. This follows proposed rules issued by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 3, 2010 implementing the Dodd-Frank whistleblower provisions amending Section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act. The National Whistleblowers Center submitted pre-proposal comments to both the CFTC and the SEC and will be submitting formal comments on the proposed rules.
Stephen M. Kohn, Executive Director of the National Whistleblowers Center issued the following statement in response to today’s proposed rules:
The National Whistleblowers Center is calling on the CFTC and the SEC to establish a program that will encourage the reporting of fraud by insiders who are in a position to protect the American public from the devastating impact of commodities and securities fraud. The programs at issue affect every American from the price of oil at the gas pump (commodities) to the security of retirement accounts (securities). The public has a vested interest in ensuring that the regulators get it right and that the lobbyist voices do not drown out the public interest.
The National Whistleblowers Center strongly encourages every American to let these two commissions know that we need them to implement rules that will encourage both SEC whistleblowers and CFTC whistleblowers, be user-friendly, and protect the public interest.