In the Matter of BlackRock, Inc.
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
Exchange Act Release No. 79804 (2017)
- Written by David Bloom, JD
Facts
BlackRock, Inc. (BlackRock) (defendant), a financial-services company, had a custom and practice of entering into separation contracts with employees leaving the company. Under the separation contracts, BlackRock agreed to give departing employees a separation payout in exchange for the employees’ waiver of the right to receive financial incentives for reporting possible wrongdoing committed by BlackRock to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). BlackRock voluntarily revised its form of separation contracts to remove the waiver provision. No former BlackRock employee reported any wrongdoing by BlackRock to the SEC when the waiver provision was used. BlackRock took no action to enforce the waiver provision against any former employee. After learning about BlackRock’s prior use of separation contracts that contained the waiver provision, the SEC commenced proceedings to determine what sanctions, if any, should be imposed on BlackRock.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning ()
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