SEC Whistleblower Reward Program

September 30, 2020

Two whistleblowers have been awarded approximately $22 million and $7 million for alerting the SEC of potential wrongdoing and providing substantial assistance.  Both were said to be insiders whose information helped return tens of millions of dollars to harmed investors.  SEC

September 30, 2020

The SEC has announced that it has concluded a record-breaking fiscal year for its whistleblower program by awarding four whistleblowers a total of $5 million.  For providing critical information and evidence of hard-to-detect violations, and providing extensive and ongoing assistance to the investigation, two whistleblowers were awarded $2.9 million and $1.7 million respectively.  The remaining two whistleblowers were awarded nearly $400,000 for jointly providing a tip and additional assistance, including meeting with staff to help decipher key documents and identify key witnesses.  These awards cap the program’s record of 39 individual awards, totaling about $175 million, that have been granted in a single fiscal year.  Since the whistleblower program launched in 2012, the SEC has made awards to 106 individuals totaling about $562 million.  SEC

September 28, 2020

An unnamed whistleblower has been awarded over $1.8 million for expeditiously reporting significant information about ongoing securities violations, which ultimately led to a successful enforcement action.  The award marks the 100^th award made to an individual since the inception of the SEC’s whistleblower program in 2012.  SEC

September 25, 2020

The SEC has made two awards totaling over $2.5 million to whistleblowers who provided information regarding overseas misconduct.  Both whistleblowers reported the misconduct to internal compliance systems before reporting to the SEC.  In the case of the first whistleblower, who received over $1.8 million, the internal report resulted in an internal investigation and subsequent report to the SEC.  Meanwhile, information from the second whistleblower, who received $750,000, resulted in a successful enforcement action.  SEC

September 21, 2020

A whistleblower has been awarded $2.4 million for providing timely information to the SEC.  The tip ultimately led to an enforcement action that stopped ongoing misconduct.  SEC

September 17, 2020

Joint whistleblowers whose tip to the SEC triggered an investigation have been awarded nearly $250,000.  Although the case was built on the agency’s subsequent investigation, the SEC credited the whistleblowers with providing the initial tip that broke open the case.  SEC

September 14, 2020

The SEC has announced that a $10 million award has been granted to a single whistleblower whose crucial information and continued assistance led to a successful enforcement action.  In keeping with agency protocols around anonymity, no further details were revealed.  SEC