The Securities and Exchange Commission announced its Largest-ever Dodd-Frank whistleblower awards, with two whistleblowers sharing nearly $50 million award and a third whistleblower receiving more than $33 million. The previous high was $30 million, which the securities regulator awarded in 2014.
“These awards demonstrate that whistleblowers can provide the SEC with incredibly significant information that enables us to pursue and remedy serious violations that might otherwise go unnoticed,” said Jane Norberg, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. “We hope that these awards encourage others with specific, high-quality information regarding securities laws violations to step forward and report it to the SEC.”
The SEC has awarded more than $262 million to 53 whistleblowers since making its first bounty in 2012. All payments are made out of an investor protection fund established by Congress that is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards, according to the SEC.
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. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a decision affecting whistleblowers, refused to broaden protections for corporate insiders who call out misconduct, ruling they must take claims of wrongdoing to the SEC in order to be shielded against retaliation.
Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million. As with this case, whistleblowers can report jointly under the program and share an award.
By law, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose any more information about the whistleblowers’ identities, nor did it say what titles the whistleblowers held or name the companies where they worked. 