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43 J. Marshall L. Rev. 241 (2009-2010)
Confessions of a Whistleblower: The Need to Reform the Whistleblower Provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

handle is hein.journals/jmlr43 and id is 261 raw text is: CONFESSIONS OF A WHISTLEBLOWER: THE NEED TO REFORM THE WHISTLEBLOWER PROVISION OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT Jisoo KIM* I. INTRODUCTION A. Life as a Whistleblower David Welch sits down in the lounge chair of his home in Huddleston, Virginia ready for his interview.2 He is dressed casually, wearing khaki pants and a yellow polo shirt. Welch was the first whistleblower3 to seek protection under the * J.D. Candidate, May 2010, The John Marshall Law School; M.B.A., Loyola University Chicago - Graduate School of Business, 2007. I dedicate this Comment to my parents and my sister for supporting me and believing in me throughout my educational endeavors. I would like to thank the rest of my family and friends for their encouragement and support. A special thank you to the editors and staff of The John Marshall Law Review for their work on this Comment, as well as all the faculty members who have guided me through law school and prepared me to become a successful member in the legal community. 1. See BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 1627 (8th ed. 2004) (defining a whistleblower as an employee who reports employer wrongdoing to a governmental or law-enforcement agency); see also Curtis C. Verschoor, To Blow the Whistle or Not Is a Tough Decision!, STRATEGIC FIN., Oct. 2005, at 22 (quoting Brian Martin, a professor at the University of Woolongong in Australia who defines whistleblowing as a disclosure about significant wrongdoing made by a concerned citizen . .. motivated by notions of public interest, who has perceived the wrongdoing in a particular role and initiates the disclosure . . . to a person or agency capable of investigating the complaint and facilitating the correction of wrongdoing). 2. Stephen Taub, Five Years Out of Work, CFO, May 18, 2007, available at http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/9210493/l/c_9211482. The beginning part of this Comment is semi-fictional and is based on the interview with David Welch done by CFO.com. The actual interview was conducted over the phone. Id. 3. Id. Welch refused to certify certain financial results after questioning the bank's accounting policies. Id. He was fired shortly after that, although the bank claims Welch was fired for refusing to meet with its attorney and an external auditor without his own attorney present. Id. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which oversees the initial investigations of complaints, found that Cardinal did not violate Section 806 when firing Welch for refusing to meet with the external auditor. Deborah Solomon, For Financial Whistle-Blowers, New Shield Is an Imperfect One, 241

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