On May 10, 2021, the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower announced multi-million dollar awards to two whistleblowers who provided the SEC with information that assisted the agency in bringing a successful enforcement action against a financial services firm.  (The order granting the awards can be accessed here.)  The larger of the two awards, $18 million, was awarded to the whistleblower who was the initial source of the information that prompted the SEC’s investigation.  The second award of $4 million was given to a second whistleblower who submitted additional information after the investigation was already underway.

Emily Pasquinelli, Acting Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, said in a press release that “[t]he reporting of credible information by these whistleblowers and their subsequent cooperation with the staff’s investigation allowed the Commission to better understand complex transactions related to the matters under investigation.”

Since the inception of the whistleblower program in 2011, the SEC has awarded approximately $838 million to 156 individuals.