October 21, 2021
The CFTC has issued a final award of nearly
$200 million to a whistleblower whose information significantly contributed to government investigations resulting in successful enforcement actions by the CFTC, another U.S. federal regulator, and a foreign regulator. In making the award, the CFTC noted that the information provided by the whistleblower was specific and credible, leading to important, direct evidence of wrongdoing, as well as voluntarily provided and timely, even though the CFTC already had an open investigation at the time of the whistleblower’s report. The CFTC had first issued a preliminary order denying the individual’s application; the whistleblower requested reconsideration and provided information about how his information was utilized, including in the parallel investigations.
CFTC