Whistleblower Silenced; SOX Doesn't Apply Outside U.S.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled that a foreign employee of a foreign subsidiary of a U.S. company cannot rely on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to sue his employer for being fired over his whistleblowing activity.

January 10, 2006

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled that a foreign employee of a foreign subsidiary of a U.S. company cannot rely on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to sue his employer for being fired over his whistleblowing activity. The court ruled that Ruben Carnero, an Argentinean, who worked for two Latin American subsidiaries of Boston Scientific, could not use SOX to sue the companies. It ruled that there is a "well-established presumption against the extraterritorial application of Congressional statutes."