On August 29, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued two whistleblower award orders granting a total of $2.1 million to two whistleblowers. Both whistleblowers voluntarily provided the agency with original information that contributed to the success of an enforcement action.

Through the SEC Whistleblower Program, qualified whistleblowers are entitled to monetary awards of 10-30% of the funds collected by the government in the enforcement action aided by their disclosure.

In the first award order, the SEC awarded $1.5 million to a whistleblower whose disclosure led to the opening of an SEC investigation which resulted in a successful enforcement action. The whistleblower “provided helpful information that saved Commission staff time and resources, including providing ongoing assistance over the course of the investigation, identifying potential witnesses, and assisting with staff with document requests,” according to the award order.

The SEC also notes that the whistleblower “reported his/her concerns internally before providing information to Commission staff.”

In the second award order, the SEC awarded $600,000 to a whistleblower who “provided substantial, ongoing assistance that included providing key evidence to support the Covered Action.” The SEC notes that “there was a substantial law enforcement interest in the information provided by [the whistleblower] given that it related to a type of violation that is often difficult to identify and assess.”

Earlier in August, the SEC issued the fourth largest award in the history of the SEC Whistleblower Program: $104 million granted to seven whistleblowers.

Overall, the SEC has awarded more than $1.5 billion to more than 200 individual whistleblowers.

Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto recently launched an index tracking all the award orders issued by the SEC.

“This index should serve as an invaluable resource to whistleblower attorneys, whistleblowers who represent themselves, and potential informants for securities and commodities violations worldwide,” said KKC Founding Partner Stephen M. Kohn, who has written extensively on these Dodd-Frank programs in his latest book, Rules for Whistleblowers.

Geoff Schweller also contributed to this article.