The SEC announced it was awarding a company insider a whistleblower award of more than $500,000 for reporting information that prompted an SEC investigation into well-hidden misconduct that resulted in an SEC enforcement action.
The whistleblower award is the second award announced by the SEC in as many weeks, bringing the total amount awarded to approximately $154 million to 44 whistleblowers. Additionally, the whistleblower tips have resulted in almost $1 billion in financial remedies.
According to the SEC Order Determining Whistleblower Claim, the SEC Whistleblower Program’s Claims Review Staff recommended that the whistleblower receive an award because the whistleblower voluntarily provided original information to the SEC that led to the successful enforcement of the action pursuant to Section 21F(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”).
Under the SEC whistleblower program, established by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2011, the SEC is required to ardently protect confidentiality of whistleblowers and cannot disclose information that might indirectly or directly reveal a whistleblower’s identity. This is the reason why items such as the percentage awarded, the violating company, and other information is redacted from the order above.
The whistleblower program offers confidentiality, protection from retaliation, and rewards fraud tipsters for reporting wrongdoing that leads to an SEC enforcement action in which over $1 million in sanctions is collected. The award can range anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the sanctions, according to the website.
Scott L. Silver, managing partner of the Silver Law Group, was an early proponent of the legislation and authored a primer on the SEC Whistleblower Program. Our legal team includes David R. Chase, a former SEC prosecutor now working to protect whistleblowers.
Silver Law Group and The Law Firm of David R. Chase are committed to the protection of whistleblowers through the whistleblower claim process and can prosecute your whistleblower claims. If you have questions about your legal rights as a whistleblower, please contact Scott Silver of the Silver Law Group for a free consultation at ssilver@silverlaw.com or toll free at (800) 975-4345.