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"CellThis month the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has announced that it has issued monetary sanctions of more than $1,000,000 in 7 matters. Attorneys (like me) who represent SEC whistleblowers follow these announcements because whistleblowers may be eligible to receive a portion of the monetary sanctions. If the whistleblower’s tip led to the SEC investigation or filed case, then the whistleblower may be eligible to receive a percentage of what the SEC recovered.

According to the information provided by the SEC Office of the Whistleblower, in SEC v. Well Advantage Limited, Certain Unknown Traders in the Securities of Nexen, Inc. in an account of Phillip Securities PTE Ltd., and Certain Unknown Traders in the Securities of Nexen, Inc. in an account of Citibank NA A/C HK 4. The case itself was filed on July 27, 2012 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case was resolved just three and a half months later, on November 7, 2012.

In the second case, the SEC successfully recovered more than $1,000,000 in monetary sanctions in the case of SEC v. Kenneth Ira Starr, Starr Investment Advisors, LLC, Starr & Company LLC, and Jonathan Star Bristol. The case, which was in the U.S. District Court in New York’s Southern District, was filed back on May 27, 2010. The resolution of the matter came on November 15, 2012.

The SEC also levied more than $1,000,000 in sanctions in a case it filed on October 16, 2012, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case was filed against Kris Chellam, and the judgment or order was issued less than two weeks later.

In the USDC for the Middle District of Florida, the SEC recovered monetary sanctions exceeding $1,000,000 in SEC v. Christel S. Scucci, Karen S. Beach, Cameron H. Linton, Esq., Protégé Enterprises, LLC, and Capital Edge Enterprises, LLC. The case was filed on April 30, 2012, and resolved some six months later on November 5, 2012.

The SEC filed a case and simultaneously received a judgment or order (likely a consent order) on November 16, 2012 case, In the Matter of Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC; DLJ Mortgage Capital, Inc.; Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Acceptance Corp.; Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp.; and Asset Backed Securities Corporation.

The sanctions exceeded $1,000,000 in SEC v. Joseph J. Monterosso, Luis E. Vargas, Lawrence E. Lynch, and Timothy Huff. The case was filed in the Southern District of Florida on November 21, 2007, and resolved nearly five uyears later, on November 16, 2012.

Finally, on November 16, 2012, the SEC obtained sanctions of greater than a million dollars in the case of SEC v. Anand Sekaran and Wasson Capital Advisers Ltd. The case had been filed just two weeks earlier, on November 9, 2012.

Whistleblowers have only 90 days to come forward and file the appropriate legal documents in order to claim a portion of the award. SEC officials have said that the SEC is serious about giving awards to eligible whistleblowers. These claims are due on March 7, 2013, to the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.

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