Does Section 806 apply to conduct unrelated to securities fraud?
Determining the type of conduct covered by the protections of Section 806 is more complicated. There is no question that Congress passed Sarbanes-Oxley in response to the public outrage at the massive accounting and corporate scandals involving companies such as Enron and WorldCom. Congress adopted the whistleblower provision specifically to protect employees who, like Enron Vice President Sherron Watkins, expose securities fraud that substantially and directly affects the investing public. As Congress has noted, groups supporting Sarbanes-Oxley, such as the National Whistleblower Center, the Government Accountability Project and Taxpayers Against Fraud, have referred to the Act as “the single most effective measure possible to prevent recurrences of the Enron debacle and similar threats to the nation’s financial markets.” While Congress may have enacted Sarbanes-Oxley to deter large-scale securities fraud, employees may argue that Section 806 is not so limited. The whistleblower provi
