CFTC Announces New Whistleblower Chief
By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team
On April 29, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Raagnee Beri will be the new Director of the CFTC Whistleblower Office.[1] She replaces Cynthia Lie who had served as the CFTC’s Acting Director for more than a year. The Whistleblower Chief is the agency’s key interface with whistleblowers under the CFTC Whistleblower Program, which rewards whistleblowers for information leading to successful enforcement actions.
Is the CFTC Still Committed to Its Whistleblower Program?
The agency’s appointment of Beri comes at a time when many are questioning the agency’s continued commitment to the whistleblower program, which launched in 2012 as part of the Dodd-Frank Act. The program has been extremely successful in attracting whistleblowers and has led to $3.2 billion in agency recoveries and roughly $390 million in whistleblower awards.
However, the program has shown little signs of life over the past year, with a relatively paltry number of awards. In fact, the CFTC has issued only one award this year so far and only two awards in all of 2025. This pales in comparison to prior years where the agency was significantly more prolific and generous in its whistleblower payouts.
Who is the New CFTC Whistleblower Chief Raagnee Beri?
Whether the appointment of Beri will change the current whistleblower award dry spell remains to be seen. On the positive side, she has a strong enforcement background with the CFTC and Department of Justice before that. She also served as senior assistant general counsel in the Litigation Branch of the CFTC’s Office of the General Counsel. Her substantive Commodity Exchange Act experience, and her government enforcement experience more broadly, thus runs deep.
On the potentially negative side, it is not clear how much experience she has working with whistleblowers. What we do know is that as part of her work as an assistant general counsel, she defended the agency’s denial of whistleblower awards on at least a few occasions. This suggests she will strongly support the agency in its whistleblower award determinations and carry out the whistleblower policy directives agency leadership puts forth.
Constantine Cannon whistleblower partner Gordon Schnell looks forward to working with Beri and her office and is heartened by the CFTC’s promotion of the appointment with Chairman Michael Selig himself singing her praises along with the importance of whistleblowers more broadly: “The Whistleblower Office plays an important role in supporting the Commission’s enforcement program. Raagnee is the right person to help lead that office and continue to promote its efficacy.”
According to Schnell, “Under Acting Director Lie, the Whistleblower Office was highly responsive to our outreach and in supporting the interests of our whistleblower clients.” Schnell expects that under Beri’s stewardship, the Whistleblower Office will continue to show a strong commitment to the whistleblower program. He also is cautiously optimistic there will be a turnaround in CFTC whistleblower awards, with the agency returning to its history of more frequent and sizeable payouts.
Constantine Cannon Has Substantial Experience Representing CFTC Whistleblowers
Constantine Cannon has substantial experience representing CFTC whistleblowers along with whistleblowers under the many other whistleblower rewards programs. If you would like to learn more about the CFTC Whistleblower Program, our work representing whistleblowers under that program, or the other whistleblower rewards programs, our long list of whistleblower successes, or what it means to be a whistleblower more broadly, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will connect you with an experienced member of the Constantine Cannon whistleblower team for a free and confidential consultation.
Source:
[1] See https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/9222-26?.
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