SEC awards joint whistleblowers with over $6 million

Photo: Leaprate

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced giving more than $6 million award to a to joint whistleblowers whose information and assistance led to the successful enforcement of SEC and related actions. The whistleblowers provided substantial assistance to the SEC and another government agency, including submitting documents, participating in interviews and identifying key individuals involved in the misconduct.

Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower said, "The whistleblowers’ information led to multiple successful government actions related to a complex scheme involving several individuals and tens of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains. Today’s award demonstrates the significant contributions whistleblowers make to investigations that can save the SEC and other government agencies substantial time and resources."

So far, the agency has awarded over $728 million to total of 118 individuals since the first award was issued in the year 2012, including awards to 12 individuals in the first two months of this fiscal year, totaling more than $166 million. Payment of the awards is taken out of an investor protection fund set up by Congress. It is financed through monetary sanctions of security law violations paid to SEC.

To be eligible for award, a whistleblower needs to voluntarily provide the commission with reliable information that leads to successful enforcement action. The awards range between 10% to 30 % of the money collected by SEC when the sanction is for more than $1 million.

According to the Dodd-Frank Act, SEC must protect the identity of the whistleblower and not disclose any information that could reveal it.

Reprinted from Leaprate, the copyright all reserved by the original author.