Wayne Carlin is a partner in the Litigation Department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. This post is based on a Wachtell Lipton firm memorandum by Mr. Carlin, John F. Savarese, and David B. Anders.
For some time, SEC officials have expressed concern about confidentiality agreements that may deter corporate employees from submitting whistleblower reports. The SEC has now brought its first enforcement action in this area, a settled case in which the respondent agreed to pay a $130,000 civil penalty without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. According to the SEC’s order, the company required its employees to sign confidentiality agreements at the outset of interviews in internal investigations. The agreements prohibited witnesses from communicating with anyone else any of “the subject matter discussed during the interview.” Such communication was permissible only if the employee first obtained authorization from the company’s legal department. The SEC found that this practice violated Rule 21F-17, which prohibits taking “any action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation, including enforcing, or threatening to enforce, a confidentiality agreement … with respect to such communications.”
