On February 14, Caroline D. Pham, Acting Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced that Brian Young will serve as the agency’s Director of Enforcement. Young, who has been serving as Acting Director of the Division of Enforcement since January, was previously the Director of the CFTC Whistleblower Office.

“As Director of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Office, Brian Young demonstrated a strong commitment in working alongside whistleblowers to root out fraud and corruption in the commodities market,” says Andrew Feller, co-Chair of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto’s Securities and Commodities Whistleblower Group. “His perspective and experience on the importance of empowering whistleblowers should greatly bolster the CFTC’s enforcement efforts.”

“In the face of the current uncertainty around funding and staffing levels at the CFTC, a robust whistleblower program is more important than ever in empowering the CFTC to detect and address wrongdoing,” Feller adds.

Young took over the lead role at the CFTC Whistleblower Program in February 2024 after many years at the U.S. Department of Justice where much of his case work involved whistleblower-initiated False Claims Act cases.

“The whistleblower program we have is a really important part of a really important mission,” Young said in a speech at the 2024 National Whistleblower Day celebration on Capitol Hill.

Under Young’s leadership, the CFTC Whistleblower Program had a record 2024 Fiscal Year, with the highest-ever number of both whistleblower tips and award applications received and the most award orders issued in a single fiscal year. According to the CFTC, 42% of all CFTC enforcement matters now involve whistleblowers.

Geoff Schweller also contributed to this article.