The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced one of its latest whistleblower awards, worth more than $900,000. In this case, a whistleblower’s tip helped the SEC bring multiple enforcement actions against various parties.
Per federal law, the SEC did not release the name of the whistleblower or any information on the case that could have revealed the individual’s identity. The award was the second to be issued in less than a week, which the chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower said is an indication of the quality of the tips the agency is receiving.
Whistleblowers continue to see higher awards
The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, implemented as part of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, continues to provide substantial incentives for whistleblowers to come forward with complaints. Over the past five years, the agency has awarded more than $136 million to 37 different whistleblowers, all of whom became eligible for these awards by providing the agency with useful, original information that contributed to successful enforcement actions.
Whistleblower awards may be worth anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the money collected if sanctions exceed $1 million in value. All the payments to these whistleblowers come from an investor protection fund Congress established along with Dodd-Frank. Money in the fund comes from the sanctions the SEC levies when it finds an organization has been in violation of federal securities law.
If you are looking to expose wrongdoing within your organization or agency, you may need to assert your rights through a variety of processes, including corporate internal investigations. To learn more, meet with a skilled Dallas attorney at Whistleblower Law for Managers.
