SEC Awards $28 million to Whistleblower
From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law LLC:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that it awarded more than $28 million to a whistleblower as part of the SEC’s Whistleblower program. According to the SEC announcement, the whistleblower provided significant information that aided the SEC in a successful enforcement action. The SEC said that “[t]he whistleblower internally reported information that prompted the company to initiate an internal investigation, and saved the staff time and resources by providing testimony and identifying a key witness.”
In the announcement, the SEC noted that it has awarded more than $150 million to whistleblowers in the last month. The SEC said it hopes the “recent awards will continue to incentivize whistleblowers to come forward to report potential fraud or other wrongdoing.”
In total, the SEC has awarded approximately $715 million to 110 individuals since 2012 as part of its whistleblower program. Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award from the SEC when they voluntarily provide information to the SEC that is original, timely, and credible, and leads to a successful enforcement action. An award can range from 10% to 30% of the money collected by the SEC if the monetary sanction exceeds $1 million.
The SEC is prohibited from disclosing information that could reveal the identity of the whistleblower.
Tags: eccleston, sec, whistleblower, settelement