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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

SEC issues $50 million, whistleblower award, highest ever to one individual

Securities SEC Whistleblower Enforcement

Securities

On June 4, the SEC announced a nearly $50 million award to a whistleblower in an enforcement action, the largest amount ever awarded to one individual under the SEC’s whistleblower program. According to the SEC’s order, in applying the reward criteria, the SEC determined that the whistleblower (i) provided information that was “highly significant” and contained first-hand observations of misconduct that was previously unknown; (ii) laid out “in detail substantial aspects” of the misconduct and provided a roadmap for the SEC’s investigation; and (iii) provided information that helped the SEC return a significant amount of money to those harmed by the misconduct. The agency’s next largest awards were given in 2018 when the SEC awarded $50 million to two joint whistleblowers in March and $39 million to a single whistleblower in September, covered by InfoBytes here and here.

As of June 4, the SEC has awarded 83 individuals a total of over $500 million in whistleblower awards since its first award in 2012.