Guggenheim Securities hit with $208,912 fine for prohibiting employees from contacting the SEC.

Guggenheim Securities hit with $208,912 fine for prohibiting employees from contacting the SEC.

https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2021/06/23/guggenheim-securities-slapped-by-sec-for-violating-whistleblower-rules/

Another securities firm hit with a modest fine by the SEC.  Not generally big news.  Except this fits an ongoing pattern of hostility to those who speak up, or would want to communicate with their government.  Companies still just don’t get it.  Retaliation is a real threat that undermines any compliance efforts.  For the legal department and compliance department in this company to be playing a role in controlling who can communicate with the SEC, after the Commission has made clear that this is improper, is very troubling.  

For a long time I have had the sense that compliance officers in the securities and financial services fields have not been fully empowered or given sufficient independence.  How could the compliance office have let itself be listed as one of the places employees had to go before being allowed to talk with the SEC, when the SEC had loudly and clearly said such prior approval was illegal?  

We need compliance officers in this field to have real power and independence, to report to the very top, and be viewed as more than compliance technicians.  And these compliance officers need to tackle head-on the dangerous issue of retaliation, including illegal efforts to prevent employees from speaking to the SEC.  The reality is, if companies did not retaliate and treat those who speak up so badly, those employees would not need to go to the SEC, but could safely raise issues internally.  For compliance professionals doing risk assessments in this field, before you start listing sections of the securities laws, put “Retaliation” at the top of your list of compliance risks!  It is an ever-present danger that needs to be addressed.