On September 9, 2024, the SEC announced settled enforcement actions against seven companies for violating the SEC’s whistleblower rules.[1] Specifically, the SEC alleged that the companies had provisions in various kinds of agreements with employees, including employment, separation, and settlement agreements, that purport to restrict, and thereby could potentially discourage, employees and other signatories from reporting information to government investigators or participating in a whistleblower award.Continue Reading SEC Enforcement Sweep Reaffirms Focus on Anti-Whistleblower Provisions in Employee Agreements
Gerald Hodgkins
Gerald Hodgkins has a broad securities enforcement practice focused on representing financial institutions, public companies and individuals in investigations and enforcement actions brought by the key financial regulators. A former Associate Director in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, Jerry has extensive experience in matters before the SEC, with particular focus on public company accounting and disclosure, broker-dealer and investment adviser regulation, and U.S. anti-corruption law. He also represents clients in matters before the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Since joining Covington in 2018, Jerry has represented or advised more than fifty Fortune 500 companies in matters involving the U.S. securities laws, including five Fortune 10 and ten Fortune 50 companies. He also has represented or advised ten of the one hundred largest financial services firms in the U.S. as ranked by Fortune magazine.
During his 20-year tenure at the SEC, Jerry oversaw more than 100 enforcement matters, covering the entire breadth of the SEC’s law enforcement authority. In addition to matters involving financial services regulation and public company oversight, Jerry oversaw multiple investigations involving insider trading, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and municipal securities regulation. The enforcement actions he oversaw included the largest penalty in SEC history for issuer reporting and disclosure fraud (SEC v. WorldCom), the first, and still largest, settlement involving the clawback of executive compensation under Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SEC v. William W. McGuire, M.D.), and the final dispositions in the SEC’s actions against former Enron officers, including summary judgment obtained by the SEC against Jeffrey K. Skilling, former Enron president, COO and CEO.
In 2023, Jerry was elected to a second term on the steering committee of the Corporation, Finance and Securities Law Community of the DC Bar. He frequently speaks at conferences and continuing education programs and has authored several articles focused on SEC enforcement.
In his free time, Jerry is principal trumpet for the Maryland-based Symphony of the Potomac.