Litigation & enforcement partner Jeremiah Williams and R&G Insights Lab senior advisor Hui Chen spoke with Anti-Corruption Report about the SEC’s settlement agreement with Activision Blizzard Inc. over alleged whistleblower protection violations and its failure to maintain disclosure controls.
Professionals in the compliance and employment spaces are taking note. Jeremiah said the settlement “suggests that public issuers should reassess the information tracked, collected, and disclosed to relevant management personnel, as well as the nature in which that information is tracked and disclosed.” Additionally, the resolution “should compel employers to revisit their employee releases and separation agreements to remove any provisions which could be perceived as interfering with an employee’s ability to communicate with regulators.”
Hui noted that the importance of monitoring is a key takeaway of this resolution. “When you say something is a risk, you have to know how to monitor that risk. Knowing how includes identifying the right data sources that would show activities contributing to the risk as well as manifestations of risk,” she said. “Once you have identified what data you need to monitor, then you actually have to monitor them.”
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