CFTC Issues $9 Million Whistleblower Award, One of its Largest Yet

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The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced this summer a whistleblower award of approximately $9 million, one of its most valuable awards yet.

The award was granted to a whistleblower who provided specific, credible and timely information that led the CFTC to open an investigation that ultimately led to a successful enforcement action. It is one of the five largest awards granted in the program’s history and another sign of the program’s health.

About the CFTC Whistleblower Program

While the Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program has offered more awards since its inception, the CFTC’s program has also been particularly active in the last several years, with this most recent award bringing the total money award to whistleblowers up to $120 million. CFTC enforcement actions associated with those awards resulted in nearly $950 million in sanctions.

Like with the SEC program, CFTC whistleblowers are eligible to receive anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected. The money paid out to whistleblowers comes from the CFTC Customer protection Fund, established by Congress and funded through the monetary sanctions paid to the CFTC by violators. In this sense, it is an entirely self-sustaining program.

Whistleblowers who go through the program are guaranteed confidentiality protections. The CFTC does not release any information that could potentially reveal the identity of the whistleblower, with rare exceptions.

For more information about when and how to file a whistleblower complaint through the CFTC, contact an experienced whistleblower attorney at Kardell Law Group.

By Steve Kardell | Published December 7, 2020 | Posted in Fraud | Tagged CFTC, CFTC Whistleblower Program, Commodity Futures Trading Commission

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