ARTICLE
3 January 2017

Company Pays Penalty For Illegal Separation Agreements And Whistleblower Retaliation

CW
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Contributor

Cadwalader, established in 1792, serves a diverse client base, including many of the world's leading financial institutions, funds and corporations. With offices in the United States and Europe, Cadwalader offers legal representation in antitrust, banking, corporate finance, corporate governance, executive compensation, financial restructuring, intellectual property, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, private wealth, real estate, regulation, securitization, structured finance, tax and white collar defense.
An oil-and-gas company agreed to pay a $1.4 million penalty to settle SEC charges alleging that the company had employed illegal separation agreements and that it had retaliated against a whistleblower...
United States Energy and Natural Resources

An oil-and-gas company agreed to pay a $1.4 million penalty to settle SEC charges alleging that the company had employed illegal separation agreements and that it had retaliated against a whistleblower who expressed concerns about the company's process for calculating publicly reported oil-and-gas reserves.

According to the SEC Order, the separation agreements included the following problematic language: (i) a bar on disclosing information to any person, "including a governmental agency," and (ii) a requirement that employees not make any remarks "to any governmental or regulatory agency or to the press or media" that could embarrass or harm the company's reputation.

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