The Securities and Exchange Commission announced a record whistleblower award of nearly $50 million to an anonymous individual last Thursday.
The award is the largest since the program’s inception in 2011 and brings the total amount of awards given out to over $100 million in this fiscal year alone. The next largest individual award was $38 million in 2018.
“Whistleblowers have proven to be a critical tool in the enforcement arsenal to combat fraud and protect investors,” said Jane Norberg, chief of the SEC’s Whistleblower Office, in a statement.
Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action. Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.
The record payout comes amid a surge in whistleblower awards during the Coronavirus Crisis, as well as a general trend of both larger payouts for individuals whistleblowers and larger totals in a year. In 2018, the total whistleblower awards paid out was $168 million, which exceeded all other previous fiscal years added together. With the awards in 2020 already surpassing every other fiscal year except 2018, the whistleblower award program is setting a new record high. 
Stephanie Liu is assistant editor at Internal Audit 360°