SEC Whistleblower Action against Japan’s Government

Representing executives of five environmental non-profits, we have filed an SEC whistleblower complaint against the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), an arm of Japan’s government. JICA has materially harmed U.S. investors and threatens to exacerbate climate change by financing coal-fired power generation despite its explicit assurances that it would refrain from doing so.

Beginning in April of this year, JICA sold over $500 billion in bonds to investors, including major U.S. investors such as Vanguard, Blackrock and Fidelity. Its offering documents assured investors that it would “not knowingly allocate any proceeds from the sale of the bonds to activities related to coal-fired power generation.” In truth, it has provided billions in financing to coal-fired power plants in Indonesia and Bangladesh, including a reported $2.665 billion loan to a project as recently as November 22, 2021, as our filing demonstrates.

A press release from the environmental organizations whose leaders made this submission is here.

In the wake of the COP26 climate summit, U.S. regulators and the media are paying careful attention to whether nations are living up to their promises to help mitigate the worst effects of climate change. The first article, published by Nikkei, is here, and the second, published by the Financial Times, is here. We will share links of the coverage and other relevant developments here, as they become available.

You can review the narrative description of our filing here.

If you have evidence that an institution or individual has violated U.S. securities laws, please contact our firm to discuss how we can assist, and to learn about the potential for securing a whistleblower award, in the event your evidence leads to a successful SEC enforcement action with a recovery of $1 million or more. You can contact us by calling 212.203.1249 or emailing kevin@galbraithlawfirm.com for a free, confidential consultation.