In this BNA Insights article, Outten & Golden attorneys Tammy Marzigliano and Cara E. Greene take a close look at these provisions and the effects of preceding laws, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to examine what their future impact might be. Bloomberg BNA, Workplace Law Report, 10/22/2010.
On Sept. 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers collapsed, sending shock waves through the financial services industry and portending the industry’s broader meltdown. Less than two weeks later, Washington Mutual was seized by the federal government and placed into receivership. Over the next year, more than 100 banks folded, Americans saw $13 trillion in wealth evaporate, and massive securities fraud, like that committed by Bernie Madoff, shook investor confidence to the core. The housing market collapsed, the number of people out of work hit 15.6 million, and the federal deficit ballooned. America was in the midst of the Great Recession.
In response, on July 21, 2010, the federal government enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “act” or “Dodd-Frank Act”), which overhauls and strengthens federal oversight of the financial system. While it is impossible to know whether the financial meltdown could have been avoided had the act’s provisions been adopted in 2007 instead of 2010, the question on everyone’s mind is whether the Dodd-Frank Act will keep it from happening again. Only time will tell if it will have the desired and intended impact, but the act’s whistleblower provisions attempt to ensure that in the future financial fraud and irregularities are exposed long before they corrupt the entire system.
