For Wall Street Fraudsters, Business As Usual

4514 Cole Ave, #600 | Dallas, Texas 75205

Call Kardell Law Group 214-306-8045

John F. Kennedy once quoted Dante: “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.” Unfortunately, on Wall Street, maintaining neutrality — or feigned ignorance — is often rewarded, whereas speaking out is punished.

The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act rights this wrong by incentivizing whistleblowers with money in return for their honorable deeds. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of the Whistleblower compensates with between 10 and 30 percent of the money collected based on the original information provided. In addition, the law is meant to protect the whistleblower from retaliation by her or his employer.

Many financial whistleblowers have, nonetheless, been shunned by the industry they sought to clean up. Compounding the problem, financial industry whistleblowers and SEC insiders have criticized the agency for ignoring the unlawful acts of the most powerful Wall Street executives while going after the small fry.

Retired SEC trial attorney James Kidney described the SEC as tentative and fearful about addressing allegations of wrongdoing on Wall Street. Mr. Kidney made the analogy that the agency “polices the broken windows on the street level and rarely goes to the penthouse floors.”

Even Mr. Kidney was pushed to the sidelines when he attempted to pursue more senior executives at Goldman Sachs in the SEC’s 2010 investigation of sub-prime mortgage failures. When he was given a lesser role in the probe, Mr. Kidney quit the investigative team. He had become a victim of the same type of whistleblower discrimination that he sought to investigate.

In exclusive interviews and a TV documentary, PBS Frontline chronicles the injustice in the financial sector, including the following:

Prosecution and civil action against lower level employees for the mortgage industry collapse
Too big to jail attitude regarding senior executives involved in the financial market failures
Retaliation against whistleblowers and employees who refused to commit unlawful acts
Blacklist of whistleblowers in the financial sector
No action against the financial institutions
Retaliation by the U.S. Justice Department and SEC against whistleblowers

Do not remain neutral if you suspect unlawful activity at your financial institution. Consult a whistleblower rights lawyer in Texas who can aggressively protect your right to speak out against injustice.

By Admin | Published June 9, 2014 | Posted in Graft and Corruption | Tagged Texas employment lawyer, Wall Street fraud, whistleblower protections

Cancel reply

Awards & Honors

Our Office

Dallas Office
4514 Cole Ave
#600
Dallas, Texas 75205
Phone: 214-306-8045
Fax: 469-729-9926

Testimonials

"Steve Kardell was terrific in representing me in some very adversarial discussions with Citigroup and also later represented me in my testimony before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission." -Richard Bowen, Citigroup Whistleblower
"Incredible knowledge of employee related concerns and equally brilliant knowledge of health care regulations, standards of practice. I would recommend this firm to anyone." -V.B.
"Reaching out to Steve Kardell was the best decision I made. His ability to provide immediate insight and direction was very powerful, and a huge relief during a very stressful time period. For anyone struggling with a whistleblower situation, I would highly recommend at least speaking with Steve. After a 10 minute call with him, I had a better understanding of what I was dealing with. Even better, he gave me some immediate hope. In the end Steve did a better job than I thought was possible. Steve was able to get in contact with people in my organization, that I didn’t have access to. Because of his years of experience, he already has contacts in many organizations in Dallas. The entire situation was handled peacefully. I was impressed by his ability to “keep the peace”–rather than creating a battle with the organization. The reason I didn’t reach out to a lawyer initially, was because I thought it would mean an immediate end to any hope of a positive relationship with the company. Steve was able to address my concerns, and in the end I was able to continue to work for them." -KS
"Never thought my career would end like it did after 30 years of service. I was part of the first round of the so called reduction of force. I asked myself how can I be part of this with 30 years of seniority. How did they pick these 90 plus employees? Now, the culture of this organization made you question every decision they made. It wasn’t what you knew it’s was a culture of who you know. Nonetheless, I did not accept their severance package. I immediately starting looking for an attorney who would take on my case. After the initial call to Steve I had hope again. He was open and honest about everything and reassured me he would do his best for me, and he did. I had an awesome outcome. Thanks Steve you’re the best." -S.S.