On October 1, 2024, leading U.S. whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn spoke at the Annual KYC360 Forum in Jersey, where world-leading experts and thought leaders discussed the current AML/KYC (anti-money laundering/know your customer) landscape and discussed optimization strategies. Kohn, founding partner of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto LLP and Chairman of the Board of the National Whistleblower Center, presented “The Impact of New US AML Whistleblowing Legislation on Non-US Businesses.”
In his presentation, Kohn explained the transnational reach of the U.S. AML whistleblower law and how its success can be applied worldwide, highlighting the recent landmark $4 billion sanction against Binance for a host of violations, including money laundering. He stated: “This is the future in so many ways.”
The AML Whistleblower Program was modernized with the passage of the AML Whistleblower Improvement Act in late 2022. Under the program, individuals from across the globe can anonymously blow the whistle on money laundering violations to U.S. authorities and qualify for monetary awards.
Kohn also illuminated how corporate compliance officials can also qualify as whistleblowers under U.S. whistleblower programs’ 120-day rules designed to incentivize corporate self-reporting and reward compliance officers for coming forward. With a significant number of whistleblower tips coming out of the U.K., he emphasized that international whistleblowers can file in the U.S. to report corruption.
“I hope other countries pick up, but until they do, [U.S. whistleblower programs] are open for business worldwide,” says Kohn.
Kohn is widely recognized as a leading expert on whistleblower law, having represented whistleblowers in high-profile cases since 1984. He is also the most published author on whistleblower law. His latest book, Rules for Whistleblowers: A Handbook for Doing What’s Right, has received rave reviews. For example, Kirkus praised Rules for Whistleblowers in a review, calling it “definitive and compulsively readable.”