SEC Whistleblower Lawyer Blog
In one of the highest payouts since the inception of the SEC’s Whistleblower Program, an individual recently received a total bounty of an astounding $110M. It’s the second highest award paid to a whistleblower, following a $114M award paid just last October. The SEC awarded the individual $40 million, and the other agency paid $70 million for a related action.
This brings the SEC’s Whistleblower program’s total awards to the $1 billion mark since 2012, and payments made to a total of 207 individuals. In FY2021 alone, the SEC has paid out over $500 million in whistleblower bounties. These come from financial sanctions collected from wrongdoers, such as civil penalties and disgorgement, not from money recovered on behalf of defrauded investors.
The whistleblower provided information from “significant independent analysis” that greatly assisted both the SEC’s staff and the second agency in their investigations.
In the same press release and order, the SEC announced that a second whistleblower received a bounty of $4M after supplying information that was “much more limited” and provided after the beginning of an investigation.
Related Action Awards
The reason for such a high-dollar bounty in this case is that the first claimant received an additional award for a “related action.”
When another regulatory or governmental agency brings an action against a company concurrent or in conjunction with the SEC, it’s called a “related action.” If the agency also has a whistleblower program, it’s possible for a whistleblower to be awarded an additional bounty as this one had.
Related actions can be brought by:
- The Attorney General of the US
- An appropriate regulatory authority
- A self-regulatory organization
- A state attorney general in a criminal case
Whistleblowers can find themselves eligible for more than one bounty, as was the case in today’s press release.
As always, identifying information is kept confidential to protect the identity of the whistleblowers.
Retaining Experienced SEC Whistleblower Attorneys
Whistleblowers help everyone by notifying authorities of conduct that harms the public, while also earning financial compensation for themselves. Hiring experienced SEC counsel will greatly increase your chances of the SEC initiating an investigation based on your information. If you wish to remain anonymous, you must be represented by an attorney, who will submit everything on your behalf.
Silver Law and the Law Firm of David R. Chase jointly have experienced SEC whistleblower lawyers, including a former SEC Enforcement attorney on the team, so you will always have guidance throughout the process. Our SEC whistleblower attorneys can help you if you have information regarding securities or investment fraud, violations of federal securities laws, false filings, market manipulation, or other misconduct. You must provide timely, credible, and original information or analysis in order to be eligible.
Contact us through our online form or at (800) 975-4345 for a consultation. Our attorneys work on a contingency fee basis. This means that it costs you nothing to hire us, and we collect our fees when you receive an SEC bounty. Because we get paid when you do, we have the incentive to help you collect the maximum award available.