Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 30. TRADE AND COMMERCE

CHAPTER 10. SECURITIES REGULATION

Part 11. Whistleblower Award and Protection Act

Disqualification From Award

30-10-1110. Disqualification from award. The commissioner may not provide an award to a whistleblower under this section if the whistleblower:

(1) is convicted of a felony in connection with the administrative or judicial action for which the whistleblower otherwise could receive an award;

(2) acquires the original information through the performance of an audit of financial statements required under the securities laws and for whom providing the original information violates 15 U.S.C. 78j-1;

(3) fails to submit information to the commissioner in the form that the commissioner may prescribe;

(4) knowingly makes a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or misrepresentation as part of, or in connection with, the original information provided or the administrative or judicial action for which the original information was provided;

(5) in the whistleblower's submission, its other dealings with the commissioner, or in its dealings with another authority in connection with a related action, knowingly makes any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation, or uses any false writing or document knowing that it contains any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry with intent to mislead or otherwise hinder the commissioner or another authority in connection with a related action;

(6) knowingly provides original information that is false, fictitious, or fraudulent;

(7) has a legal duty to report the original information to the commissioner;

(8) is, or was at the time the whistleblower acquired the original information submitted to the commissioner, a member, officer, or employee of the office of the state auditor, the United States securities and exchange commission, any securities regulatory authority of another state, a self-regulatory organization, the public company accounting oversight board, or any law enforcement organization;

(9) is, or was at the time the whistleblower acquired the original information submitted to the commissioner, a member, officer, or employee of a foreign government, of any political subdivision, department, agency, or instrumentality of a foreign government, or of any other foreign financial regulatory authority as that term is defined in 15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(52);

(10) is the spouse, parent, child, or sibling of the commissioner or an employee of the office of the state auditor or resides in the same household as the commissioner or an employee of the office of the state auditor; or

(11) directly or indirectly acquires the original information provided to the commissioner from a person:

(a) who is subject to subsection (2), unless the information is not excluded from that person's use, or provides the commissioner with information about possible violations involving that person;

(b) who is a person described in subsection (8), (9), or (10); or

(c) with the intent to evade any provision of this part.

History: En. Sec. 10, Ch. 76, L. 2021.