Poppy Alexander

A False Claims Act case concerning a decade-long conspiracy by the five largest oil companies in South Korea to rig their bids to artificially inflate prices on fuel contracts for U.S. military bases in South Korea. Poppy and her colleagues helped the government recoup over $360 million in fines and penalties to settle the case. The settlements were the largest in American history under Section 4A of the Clayton Act and helped spur the creation of the Department of Justice’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF).

The first-ever whistleblower award made by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal auto-safety regulator. In 2021, Poppy and her colleagues secured a $24.3 million reward for a former Hyundai safety engineer, whose information concerning engine safety failures led the agency to impose a combined penalty on Hyundai and Kia totaling $210 million.

Representing Frances Haugen in her fight to expose Meta’s lack of safety protocols, contributing to dangerous political upheaval and child safety concerns around the globe.

Some of the first cases against major U.S. banks filed under the new FinCEN Whistleblower Program concerning serious violations of the Bank Secrecy Act through the banks’ systematic compliance failures.

Matters filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by publicly traded U.S. companies resulting in serious human rights abuses abroad.

“Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Must Put Officers on Alert,” Law360 (January 8, 2024) (with Caleb Hayes-Deats)

“Transnational Whistleblower Litigation,” Transnational Litigation Blog (October 11, 2023)

“How to Be a Crypto Whistleblower,” The Information (May 18, 2023)

“FinCEN’s Whistleblower Program Sharpens Focus on Money Launderers,” Bloomberg Law (February 7, 2023) (with Caleb Hayes-Deats)

“Crypto Is Under Fire, But Is This Really the End for Its Wild West?,” Los Angeles Times (January 15, 2023) (with Rebecca Ackermann)

“Expand This Whistleblower Program So Putin’s Cronies Can’t Evade Sanctions,” Fortune (March 4, 2022)

“How America's Mistrust of Institutions Birthed the False Promises of the Crypto Craze,” Los Angeles Times (February 28, 2022) (with Rebecca Ackermann)

“Elon Musk Is Mocking Whistleblowers. Here's Why That's a Good Thing,” Newsweek (January 14, 2022) (with Mary Inman, Amber Scorah, and Ariella Steinhorn)

“SB 8 Reveals the Difference Between a Private Vigilante Law and a Private Attorney General Statute,” Harvard Law & Policy Review Blog (November 11, 2021) (with Chris McLamb)

“Enablers Act Will Do More to Stop Money Laundering Than Lawmakers Realize,” The Hill (October 14, 2021)

“SEC Examines Relationship Between Bad Books and Bribery Schemes,” New York Law Journal (August 11, 2020) (with Michael Ronickher)

“Reforming Private Prisons From the Inside,” The Tennessean (November 2, 2016) (with Anne Hayes Hartman)

“Congress' Band-Aid—It’s Up to Whistleblowers to Combat EB-5 Fraud,” The Epoch Times (October 12, 2016)

“We Need Whistleblowers to Save Indian Workers From H-1B Visa Fraud,” The Huffington Post (October 12, 2016) (with Rosie Dawn Griffin)

“Calling All FCPA Whistleblowers—The SEC Wants You,” OffshoreAlert (October 6, 2016)

“Anatomy of an IRS Phone Scam,” Think Advisor (July 6, 2016) (with Gordon Schnell)

“The Buck Stops … Where? How Compliance Officers Can Help Protect Themselves from Personal Liability for AML Issues,” ACAMS The Assembly (October 1, 2023) (panelist)

“SEC's Whistleblower Bounty Program: Best Practices for Compliance, Investigations, and Responding to Whistleblowers,” Lorman (July 24, 2023) (faculty)

“Climate Advocates Can Use the SEC’s Whistleblower Program to Stop Intentional Climate Misinformation,” Climate Money Watchdog Podcast (July 6, 2022)

Multi-Perspective Panel: How to Navigate International Sanctions,” Compliance Week Conference (May 18, 2022) (panelist)

“The Ins and Outs of Whistleblowing,” Source Code Podcast (March 23, 2022)

“Whistling at the Fake: Disinformation and the Private Sector” (January 28, 2022) (panelist)

“In Defense of Whistleblowers,” Law and Disorder Podcast (July 12, 2021)

“Whistleblowing: A Human Rights Perspective,” New York Women’s Bar Association (April 27, 2021) (panelist)

“Government Focus on Whistleblower Retaliation,” Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics Compliance & Ethics Institute (October 17, 2017) (panelist)

Board Member, Impact Fund

Super Lawyers, Rising Stars (2016-2024)

Harvard Law School (2012)

University of California, Berkeley, M.A. (2007)

Yale College (2004)