CFTC Proposes Significant Changes to Its Whistleblower Program

By Jason Enzler Last week the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) proposed extensive amendments to the regulations implementing its five-year old whistleblower program.  If adopted, the changes would expand and clarify its whistleblower protections, the scope of who can enforce whistleblower protections, the bases for how awards to whistleblowers will be calculated, and the process by which whistleblower claims will be evaluated, among other proposals. Regarding protections against whistleblower...

CFTC Announces Its Largest Whistleblower Reward (so far . . .)

By Jason Enzler This week the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) awarded its largest bounty to date to a whistleblower -- over $10 million.  The award is the third payment to a whistleblower the CFTC has made under its whistleblower program implemented by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. The identities of the whistleblower and the defendant(s?) are shielded by law.  The Dodd-Frank Act and rules promulgated under that law...

CFTC Announces Second Whistleblower Award

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team The CFTC announced its second ever whistleblower award yesterday under the agency's Dodd-Frank whistleblower program.  The anonymous whistleblower will receive roughly $290,000 for reporting information about violations of the Commodity Exchange Act that led to an  enforcement action.  This award follows nearly a year and a half after the CFTC announced its first whistleblower award in May 2014 for $240,000. Director of the Division...

CFTC Makes Its First Whistleblower Award

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Acting Chairman Mark Wetjen has just announced that the CFTC will issue its first award to a whistleblower under the agency’s Dodd-Frank Act whistleblower program.  The whistleblower is expected to receive approximately $240,000 for providing information about violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. According to Gretchen Lowe, the Acting Director of the CFTC’s Enforcement unit, “the whistleblower provided specific, timely and credible information that...

Antitrust Matters Episode 4: The Whistleblower

Antitrust Matters provides engaging and timely conversations about competition policy in the digital age. Antitrust has always mattered to consumers and businesses, and to antitrust lawyers and economists, but today it also is in the political and public discourse more than ever. From the prices we pay for food, travel, financial services, payments to the way we interact daily using digital apps and platforms, antitrust touches each and every one...

Top Ten SEC and CFTC Recoveries of 2021

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 payouts—than ever before in its...

Top Ten Whistleblower Awards of 2021

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 Whistleblower and CFTC Whistleblower Programs.  And for the first time ever, it includes an award under the Motor...

Former Regional Director of the SEC’s Chicago Office Joins Constantine Cannon’s Whistleblower Practice

Joel R. Levin brings deep experience to the largest and most successful international whistleblower practice in the world NEW YORK, NY (12/3/2021)—Constantine Cannon LLP is pleased to announce that Joel R. Levin, former Regional Director of the Chicago office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will be joining the firm’s whistleblower practice as Of Counsel. Mr. Levin brings a breadth of government experience handling complex fraud cases to...

Former Regional Director of the SEC’s Chicago Office Joel R. Levin Joins Constantine Cannon’s Whistleblower Practice

Former Regional Director of the Chicago office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Joel R. Levin has joined Constantine Cannon’s whistleblower practice as Of Counsel. See C|C Press Release.  Mr. Levin brings a wealth and breadth of government experience handling complex fraud cases to the firm’s whistleblower practice. From 2018 to 2021, Mr. Levin served as the Regional Director of the Chicago office of the SEC, the agency’s...

Is the privatization of whistleblower programs a trend?

Tether is a type of cryptocurrency known as a “stablecoin.”  That means, in theory, that anyone buying Tether is promised Tether holds an equal amount of U.S. currency to back up your crypto purchases.  There’s just one problem with that:  no one has seen any proof that Tether actually holds anywhere close to sufficient currency to back up the billions in stablecoins traded.  All Tether has offered is an unverified...