Brown Blasts SEC For Moving Forward With It’s Anti-Investor Proposal And Undermining The Whistleblower Program

September 23, 2020 – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – today released the following statement after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) moved two final rules forward, one on the whistleblower program, and the other on the shareholder proposal rule:

“The SEC’s actions today will undermine efforts to uncover fraud and misconduct and will prevent shareholders from holding corporate management accountable. The rule changes approved today create uncertainty and ambiguity in the evaluation of whistleblower tips and will ultimately make it harder for potential whistleblowers to come forward. At a time when Congress is pushing to strengthen whistleblower protections, the SEC is hurting its own very successful program.

Brown added, “The SEC’s decision to finalize this anti-investor proposal is a disservice to both Main Street and institutional investors. It significantly limits shareholders’ ability to raise issues to management and fellow shareholders. The SEC should be considering ways to promote, not curtail shareholder engagement.”

Recently Brown led colleagues in a letter to the SEC urging the agency to protect the Whistleblower program. Brown also urged the SEC not to adopt any new anti-investor proposal.