Miriam Freier was the marketing director of investment adviser Vertical Capital, LLC (Vertical).  Her employment was terminated in early December 2014.  She is suing Vertical and certain of its officers and/or principals under the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, claiming that her employment was wrongfully terminated after she learned from a prospective investor of an ongoing SEC investigation of a Vertical affiliate and told the firm that she desired to cooperate with the SEC in that investigation.  For discussion of an SEC action against a private fund manager for retaliating against a whistleblower, see “Sanctions against Private Fund Manager for Retaliating against Whistleblower Highlight the Importance of Incentivizing Internal Reporting,” Hedge Fund Law Report, Vol. 7, No. 27 (Jul. 18, 2014).