On August 30, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that awards to whistleblowers have surpassed the $100 million with the program’s second-largest award of more than $22 million earlier today.
Whistleblowers may be entitled to awards when they willingly provide the SEC with useful information that leads to a successful enforcement action. Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions ordered exceed $1 million.
The SEC paid its first award in 2012 and more than $107 million has been awarded to 33 whistleblowers, with the largest being more than $30 million.
The SEC also has brought actions to ensure that employees feel secure in reporting wrongdoing to the SEC, without fear of reprisal from their employers, including one enforcement action under the anti-retaliation provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act and four actions against companies for including language in confidentiality and severance agreements that impeded whistleblowers from reporting to the SEC.
By law, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that might directly or indirectly reveal a whistleblower’s identity.
