About Grace Schepis
Grace Schepis is the Public Relations & Communications Assistant for Kohn, Kohn, & Colapinto (KKC). In spring 2022, Grace graduated magna cum laude from the University of Alabama with a master’s degree in Public Administration and a bachelor’s in Political Science. On campus, she led the competitive Mock Trial team, multiple voting rights organizations, and was a Staff Writer for the Pacemaker-award winning campus newspaper, The Crimson White.
From the Whistleblower and Qui Tam Blog
International Anti-Corruption Academy Offering Panel on Protecting Whistleblowers
The International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) is teaming up with leading voices in whistleblower protection in an upcoming virtual panel. On February 17th, IACA’s “Whistleblower Protection in Action: How to Shield Workplace Witnesses from Retaliation” event will educate viewers on “many time-tested tactics to best protect employees, while ensuring their reports of misconduct are properly investigated and remedied,” according to event hosts. Kohn, Kohn, and Colapinto founding partner Stephen M. Kohn will be joined by Boris Vukasinovic, Deputy Director the Montenegro Agency for Prevention of Corruption, as the two headlining speakers. Mark Worth from the European Center for Whistleblower Rights will be moderating. "New whistleblower laws are being passed all over the world, but attorneys and activists need real-life skills to fight back against witness retaliation,” Worth said. “There's a lot more to winning than knowing the law. We'll share our successful techniques." Kohn, the most published author on whistleblower law, will speak on the importance of ...
DOJ Announces Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative
In furthering its mission of combatting cybersecurity threats, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on October 6 the creation of the Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative. The initiative will also hold companies accountable for following protocol on protecting their internal information. The initiative will “combine the department’s expertise in civil fraud enforcement, government procurement and cybersecurity to combat new and emerging cyber threats to the security of sensitive information and critical systems,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco stated in the announcement. “This is a tool that we have to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used appropriately and guard the public fisc and public trust,” Deputy Attorney General Monaco said. Specifically, this initiative looks to encourage companies to speak out when security breaches occur, and reinforce the importance of complying with standards already in place. Any cases of wrongdoing will be charged under the False Claims Act (FCA), which the DOJ considers ...
International Whistleblowers Receive High Pay, High Praise from SEC
This article was originally published by JD Supra. Since the whistleblower program’s inception in 2011, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has awarded approximately $956 million to 195 individuals for their whistleblowing efforts in exposing fraudulent practices in companies worldwide and in the United States. Whistleblowers do not need to be U.S. citizens or residents to qualify for SEC awards. In fact, according to the SEC, 19 of the first 106 awarded whistleblowers were foreign nationals or residents of foreign countries. While domestic whistleblowers supply the majority of disclosures and provide necessary aid to the SEC, international informants have received overwhelming praise for their whistleblowing efforts in hard-to-reach places. In September of 2014, the SEC awarded its largest international award to date: a whopping $30 million. Andrew Ceresney, the then Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said that “this whistleblower came to us with information about an ongoing fraud that would ...
Mandatory ESG Disclosures Open Door for Whistleblowers Who Aim to Help Public Good
In an ongoing effort to enforce environmental transparency in the corporate world, the SEC is looking to set an airtight policy on how companies must disclose their climate impact in annual reports. Following serious steps taken by the European Union to bring forward legislation of the sort, the SEC published a call for public commentary. John Coates at the SEC has made it clear that the agency is looking to move forward making a decision about ESG reporting requirements in the coming months. While the major focus of the SEC’s initiative has been on the relationship between corporations and the environment, that is not the only area where transparency is lacking. The term “ESG” refers to environmental, social, and corporate governance factors that can be measured to evaluate the sustainability of an investment in a company. Currently, there are guidelines in place mandating the inclusion of this information in ...
“We are not going to be moving slowly” SEC Director on ESG Disclosure Requirements
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requests public comments to be made ahead of their decision to possibly strengthen Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) disclosures for corporations. Specifically, this action would hold companies more accountable for their possible contributions to global climate decline. While the comment period is open until June 13th, SEC Director of the Division of Corporation Finance John Coates urges submissions sooner rather than later. “We're not going to be moving slowly,” Coates said in a round table discussion of the SEC action hosted by New York University Vincent C. Ross Institute of Accounting Research on April 30th. “We're going to be moving relatively promptly on this front, and if you really want your contributions read, I would send them in earlier than June 13th.” Coates assured that more detailed attention will go into the submissions received ahead of the deadline. “If you get them ...