On July 21, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Seven years is prophetic in import and impact. Heck, it’s biblical. From Genesis right on through Deuteronomy, we can read about seven years of famine, seven years of plenty, seven years of fire, having to cancel all debts after seven years, seven years until Armageddon …
Maybe that last one is prescient. Today, seven years into Dodd-Frank, repeal is on the table. Even Barney Frank has acknowledged some weak spots in the legislation. But there was more to the 2,000 plus pages than onerous reporting requirements and liquidity standards. In response to the serial misconduct in the financial marketplace, Dodd-Frank charged the SEC with the creation of a revolutionary program to provide meaningful protections and financial incentives to whistleblowers. I was privileged to serve as one of the principal architects of that program during my tenure at the Commission. In its formation and now its fruition, it has proven to be one of the greatest public-private partnerships in American history.
