ECO Policy Advisors works with the National Whistleblower Center to represent whistleblowers from around the world.
Whistleblower: Definition
Whis*tle*blow*er (noun)
One whose loyalty is to the truth.
One who reports fraud, corruption, corporate misconduct, or other violations of law to the appropriate authorities, often risking his or her financial security in an effort to stop harmful actions on behalf of the public interest.
One who discloses bribery of government officials by persons seeking to obtain a business advantage.
WHO’S ELIGIBLE
Already whistleblowers from over 80 countries have sought protection and over $30 million USD in rewards have been paid to non-U.S. citizens. For the whistleblower, monetary awards are available. For the company, instituting compliance and rooting out internal fraud can save millions of dollars. Foreign nationals can also apply based upon violations of securities and commodities fraud, tax fraud, and fraud in government contracting.
Wildlife Whistleblowers
Major Wildlife protection laws, including the Lacey Act and Endangered Species Act, mandate that the U.S. Government provide financial awards to whistleblowers who furnish information that leads to an enforcement action. Read more to find out what to do with your information on violations of wildlife protection laws.
Major U.S. wildlife laws (including the Lacey and Endangered Species Acts, the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act and, and many others) require U.S. government agencies to protect whistleblowers who report wildlife trafficking and other wildlife crimes. However, these agencies have failed to implement a whistleblower program for over thirty years.
Please sign our letter to send an urgent message to the U.S. Secretaries of Interior, Commerce, Treasury, and Agriculture, and the President, asking them to protect and reward wildlife crime whistleblowers.
In order to address your message to the appropriate recipient, we need to identify where you are.
Monetary Rewards
In a major breakthrough for international whistleblowers, the key United States anti-corruption law, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, permits non-United States citizens to file whistleblower cases anonymously or confidentially in the Unites States and obtain compensation through a rewards program.
Over a thousand foreign nationals have already filed claims under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and although a vast majority of these claims are still under investigations, foreign nationals have already received over $30 million USD in rewards.
Confidentiality Protections
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other laws with whistleblower protections permit individuals both United States citizens and foreigners to file their claims to United States authorities anonymously and confidentiality. This allows foreign nationals to confidentially report potential or actual violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and hide their identities from officials in their home countries.
The law is very clear. Any person filing a whistleblower reward claim for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or the United States Securities and Commodities laws may report their claim anonymously. Under this procedure, the whistleblower is required to use a licensed attorney in the United States. That attorney then files the claim on behalf of the whistleblower and asserts, under oath, that the information being provided came from the whistleblower.
Under the law, the United States government is required to maintain identifying information concerning the whistleblower in strictest confidence. When rewards are paid, the whistleblowers name is not released to the public.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is the single most important legal tool enhancing international whistleblower protection. Whistleblowers who reside outside of the United States now have the right to confidentially file information about potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and qualify for financial rewards if their information is used as part of a successful prosecution.
The most important transnational whistleblower law is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Other United States whistleblower reward laws which are available for foreign nationals in addition to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are the Securities Exchange Act, Commodities Exchange Act, Internal Revenue (Tax) Fraud, and Government Contracting Fraud.