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Whistleblower receives record $114 million award

Securities SEC Whistleblower Enforcement

Securities

On October 22, the SEC announced a more than $114 million award to a whistleblower in connection with successful agency enforcement action. The SEC’s press release states that the award “consists of an approximately $52 million award in connection with the SEC case and an approximately $62 million award arising out of the related actions by another agency.” The award is the highest award issued to date by the SEC. The SEC also noted that, “[a]fter repeatedly reporting concerns internally, and despite personal and professional hardships, the whistleblower alerted the SEC and the other agency of the wrongdoing and provided substantial, ongoing assistance that proved critical to the success of the actions.” The redacted order determining the whistleblower award further states that the whistleblower voluntarily provided significant information. The SEC also denied award applications submitted by three other claimants, citing determinations made by the Claims Review Staff that “their information did not ‘lead to’ the success of the Covered Action,” and that, among other things, the submitted information did not relate to the SEC’s charges and was not used by staff in the enforcement action.

The SEC has now paid approximately $676 million to 108 individuals since the inception of the program.