Whistleblower Awarded $20 Million for Assisting in Recovery of Investor Funds
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) handed out its third largest whistleblower award yesterday. The whistleblower was awarded $20 million for coming forward promptly with valuable information that enabled the SEC to move quickly and initiate an enforcement action against wrongdoers before they could squander the money.
SEC’s whistleblower program issued its first award in 2012. The program has now awarded more than $130 million to whistleblowers who voluntarily provided the SEC with unique and useful information that led to a successful enforcement action.
“This whistleblower alerted us with a valuable tip that led to a near total recovery of investor funds. Sizeable awards like this one should encourage whistleblowers everywhere that there are real financial incentives to promptly reporting potential securities law violations to the SEC,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s awards to whistleblowers have surpassed $130 million for tips that led to successful enforcement actions since the program’s inception in 2011. It’s enforcement actions from whistleblower tips have resulted in more than $500 million in financial remedies.
Whistleblower tips have been submitted by individuals in 95 foreign countries between fiscal years 2011 and 2015. The top five were the United Kingdom (291), Canada (216), China (164), India (153), and Australia (97).
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