A major whistleblower advocacy group urged the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday to extend public comment period on the agency's planned changes to its whistleblower program so that it can glean more information on what the group says are "radically anti-whistleblower" positions in the SEC's plan that mirror U.S. Chamber of Commerce views.
The comment period ends Tuesday.
The National Whistleblower Center argued Monday in a letter to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton that the agency has yet to release all the materials it sought in a recent Freedom of Information Act request.
The center had asked for, among other items, communications between the SEC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a FOIA request filed July 18, shortly before the SEC proposed the changes on July 20.
However, the SEC has failed to produce 15,877 emails and other documents it identified as responsive to the request, the center said, arguing for more transparency.
The FOIA request was aimed at identifying lobbying efforts by regulated Wall Street companies and the chamber that could have shaped the SEC's proposed rules, according to a statement from the group.
