Stephen M. Kohn

Stephen M. Kohn is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading qui tam and whistleblower attorneys. He won the largest ever individual tax whistleblower reward/qui tam payment for UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld ($104 million reward), and the largest ever reward ever paid to an individual under the related action provisions of the IRS, SEC and DOJ programs ($177 million).

He represents Danske Bank whistleblower Howard Wilkinson in the largest money laundering scandal in world history ($230 billion), and successfully represented Greek whistleblowers whose information triggered a $320 million sanction against Novartis drug company under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Disclosures made by Kohn’s clients have resulted in fraudsters paying over $10 billion in sanctions and restitution to victims of corporate crimes.

His record of winning whistleblower cases dates back to 1984, and he was peer-review rated by the National Law Journal as one of the 50-top plaintiff’s lawyers in the United States, the only whistleblower rights lawyer to achieve this distinction. His successful advocacy has resulted in landmark precedents in whistleblower and qui tam law.

Steve helped draft key whistleblower legislation and regulatory rules, including those incorporated into the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Dodd-Frank Act, the IRS Qui Tam whistleblower amendments, and Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. He played an instrumental role in drafting and advocating for the Money Laundering whistleblower law passed in December 2022.

He is the author of the first legal treatise on whistleblowing and is the world’s most published author on whistleblower protection. His most recent book is Rules for Whistleblowers: A Handbook for Doing What’s Right (Lyons Press 2023).

In 1988 he helped found the National Whistleblower Center, where is currently serves, pro bono, as Chairman of the Board. Steve also teaches an annual seminar on Whistleblower Law at the Northeastern University School of Law.

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