The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission received about 4,000 tips, complaints and referrals of possible corporate wrongdoings from mid-March to mid-May, said Steven Peikin, co-director of the SEC’s enforcement division. That number is 35% higher than it was in the same period last year. The tips have led to hundreds of new investigations—“many Covid-19 related, but many in other traditional areas,” Mr. Peikin said in a recent speech.
Lawyers chalk up the increase to the fact that many would-be tipsters are working from the privacy of their home, out of view of snooping colleagues and managers and thus safer from being exposed as whistleblowers. Tipsters might also feel less concerned about retaliation if they are not interacting regularly with their managers, lawyers say; if they have been furloughed or laid off, they might feel even less so.
via Tips to SEC Surge as Working From Home Emboldens Whistleblowers – WSJ.
