On October 28, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued two separate whistleblower awards to individuals who voluntarily provided the agency with original information that led to successful enforcement actions. 

Through the SEC Whistleblower Program, qualified whistleblowers are entitled to a monetary award of 10-30% of funds recovered by the government. In addition to monetary awards, the SEC Whistleblower Program offers anti-retaliation protections to whistleblowers. One of these protections is confidentiality; thus, the SEC does not disclose any identifying information about award recipients.

The first award is for approximately $750,000 and was issued to a whistleblower whose disclosure about ongoing fraud led the SEC to open an investigation into the misconduct. According to the award order, the whistleblower “provided substantial, ongoing assistance, including participating in multiple voluntary interviews with Commission staff, identifying key witnesses, providing helpful documents, and explaining complex issues, which saved significant Commission staff time and resources.”

The second award is for approximately $24,000. According to the award order, in addition to making a disclosure, the whistleblower “provided substantial assistance to an investigation by meeting in person with Commission staff, providing documents, and identifying potential witnesses.” The whistleblower’s assistance enabled the SEC to bring an emergency action.

The SEC has already issued a number of whistleblower awards since the 2022 fiscal year began on October 1, 2021. The largest award so far this fiscal year was a $32 million award issued on October 15. During the 2021 fiscal year the SEC Whistleblower Program issued its largest award ever: a $114 million award. Overall, the SEC has awarded over $1 billion to over 200 whistleblowers.

Geoff Schweller also contributed to this article.