STATEMENT: TAF Coalition Celebrates National Whistleblower Day
Washington, DC – On July 30, National Whistleblower Day is celebrated and The Anti-Fraud Coalition joined elected officials, agency administrators, and other organizations to acknowledge the role of whistleblowers in protecting taxpayer dollars and the financial markets.
“With a new DOJ Whistleblower Program launching shortly and efforts to strengthen financial fraud whistleblower programs across the board, the importance of whistleblowers has never been more clear,” said Jacklyn DeMar, President & CEO of The Anti-Fraud Coalition. “I’m so happy to join brave whistleblowers, our members, allies, and elected officials who champion whistleblowers today and the rest of the year.”
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) both spoke about the role of whistleblowers to fight against fraud.
“All the whistleblowers that we honor today are doing the hard thing, they come forward when doing nothing could have been the easy choice,” said Sen. Ron Wyden. “And through personal sacrifice, we have seen action.”
“Our Founding Fathers knew the importance of rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse,” said Sen. Grassley. “As I stand here today, July 2024—a long ways away from the Revolutionary War—the same sentiment remains and must remain.”
In addition, Grassley called once again for a Rose Garden ceremony to honor whistleblowers. In 2022, we analyzed how this type of ceremony might inspire future False Claims Act whistleblowers.
John Hinman, the Director of the IRS Whistleblower Office acknowledged the $7 billion collected thanks to whistleblowers and announced the agency will soon release a seven point improvement plan which will include additional staffing.
“The [CFTC] whistleblower program also encourages companies to think about compliance and stay on the straight and narrow even in the absence of an enforcement action,” said Brian Young, Director of the CFTC Whistleblower Office. “That is hard to quantify, but I have no doubt in my mind the whistleblower program incentivizes and encourages companies to comply with the law.”
You can watch a recording of today’s celebration here.
For more information on this topic, please contact James King, Director of Communications & Digital at [email protected].
###
