SEC announces $20 million whistleblower award
SEC announces $20 million whistleblower award
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an award of more than $20 million to a whistleblower who promptly came forward with valuable information that enabled the SEC to move quickly and initiate an enforcement action against wrongdoers.
The $20 million award is the third highest since the SEC’s whistleblower program issued its first award in 2012. The program has now awarded more than $130 million to whistleblowers who voluntarily provided the SEC with unique and useful information that led to a successful enforcement action.
By law, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that might directly or indirectly reveal a whistleblower’s identity.
“This whistleblower alerted us with a valuable tip that led to a near total recovery of investor funds. Sizeable awards like this one should encourage whistleblowers everywhere that there are real financial incentives to promptly reporting potential securities law violations to the SEC,” said in a statement Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.
Whistleblowers can be awarded between 10 and 30 percent of the amount collected when monetary sanctions exceed $1 million. All payments come from an investor protection fund established by Congress that is financed through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. According to the SEC, no money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards.
Read the SEC Press Releases here:
https://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2016-237.html
https://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370543011290
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