2023 was another big year for whistleblowers, helping the government recover billions of dollars in dozens of fraud enforcement actions. As usual, virtually all these whistleblower-prompted recoveries were under the government's three primary whistleblower rewards programs -- the False Claims Act, the SEC Whistleblower Program, and the CFTC Whistleblower Program. Successful whistleblowers under each of these...
Top Ten SEC and CFTC Whistleblower Awards for 2023
Posted 01/16/24
It was a relatively quiet year for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in their payout of whistleblower awards under their respective whistleblower programs. Under the SEC Program and CFTC Program -- both enacted under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act -- whistleblowers who provide information that leads to a successful government...
Yesterday (October 12), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced an $18 million whistleblower award. The agency did not disclose the identity of the whistleblower or the associated enforcement action. It never does. The CFTC maintains strict confidentiality over its whistleblowers. All we know is the whistleblower "provided detailed information and assistance," that "was significant in amount...
Yesterday (September 19), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced its award of $15 million to two whistleblowers. Keeping to its commitment of protecting the identity of its whistleblowers, we do not know who the whistleblowers are or the enforcement actions to which the rewards relate. All we know is the whistleblowers "provided significant information and assistance that led the CFTC to bring...
Grassley Leads Bipartisan Effort to Shore Up CFTC Whistleblower Program
Posted 07/28/23
On Wednesday (July 26), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced his bipartisan charge to adopt legislation to strengthen the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Whistleblower Program. This is the program that both encourages and protects individuals for coming forward with information relating to potential violations of the Commodities Exchange Act and rewards them with up to 30 percent of any government...
CFTC Whistleblower Alert: Whistleblowers Wanted Relating to Misconduct in Carbon Markets
Posted 06/22/23
On Tuesday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a Whistleblower Alert calling for help in identifying fraud or manipulation in the carbon markets. The CFTC is the principal federal watchdog for fraud involving the commodities markets. Under the CFTC Whistleblower Program, those who voluntarily provide information that leads to a successful CFTC enforcement action are entitled to an award of up...
In recent years, the United States government has recovered billions of dollars going after companies that bribe foreign officials in order to further their business interests, a practice that violates the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Two principal United States government agencies, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, investigate and prosecute FCPA violations. Whistleblowers...
As we recently detailed, 2021 proved to be a blockbuster year for whistleblowers under the CFTC and SEC Whistleblower Programs. Seven of the ten largest whistleblower awards of 2021 were made to SEC and CFTC whistleblowers, including a massive $200 million CFTC award that was roughly twice as large as all prior CFTC awards combined. In total, the SEC paid more awards—both in total dollars and individual...
2021 was another banner year for whistleblowers, who once again collectively recovered billions of dollars for the government and hundreds of millions of dollars in whistleblower rewards under the various government whistleblower programs. This includes awards under the qui tam provisions of the federal False Claims Act and various state False Claims Act programs. It includes awards under the Dodd-Frank SEC...