July 11, 2018
Dear Securities and Exchange Commission,
I write to strongly oppose the proposed amendments to the rules governing the SEC whistleblower program (File Number S7-16-18). The proposed rule amendments will weaken and undermine the deterrent effect of rewarding whistleblowers.
I call your attention to the public statements issued by Commissioners Stein and Jackson and the Law360 Op-ed "The Problem With SEC's Plan To Cap Whistleblower Awards." (https://bit.ly/2L0WTaJ) These statements outline my reasoning as to why the proposed amendments will undermine the policing of Wall Street.
Specifically, the proposed amendment to the rules capping rewards in the largest cases to the lowest percentage rate should be withdrawn. Furthermore, the SEC should ensure that every employee, regardless of position or title, can disclose corporate fraud directly to the SEC. Any requirement that compliance officers, managers or directors work internally with the company before reporting to the SEC must be struck from the rules.
One step at a time, citizen rights and capacity to live in a democracy are being destroyed...no personal privacy remains, courts side with multi-national and other large corporations in regard to workers conditions and rights to organize, as benefits are cut or promises of pensions simply broken, and those decisions are more and more bought by dark money from those very large donors. If no room remains for whistleblowers to speak out with no be penalties for doing so, then we might as well change our name from USA to USSR/Russia. This should remain a first amendment right, and admit a that a legal coup has occurred, and we are now a plutocracy, if not a dictatorship of the wealthy who buy their way into political office.
I request that you meet personally with whistleblower experts from the National Whistleblower Center to obtain additional information as to why the proposed amendments to the rules governing the SEC whistleblower program should not be implemented.
Sincerely,
Ms. T J Thompson