Stopgap Spending Bill Extends Emergency Funding Fix for CFTC Whistleblower Program

As part of the stopgap spending bill signed into law on December 21, Congress extended an emergency fix to a funding issue threatening the hugely successful whistleblower program at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

“This measure is a step in the right direction, but Congress needs to act quickly to save this incredibly effective program,” says leading whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn, founding partner of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto who has advocated for years for a fix to the CFTC Whistleblower Program’s funding crisis.

A Congressionally-set cap on the amount of monies which can be placed in the fund used to finance the CFTC Whistleblower Program has meant that large award payments could completely deplete the fund. Under the cap, only $100 million is allowed to be placed in the fund, which is entirely financed by sanctions collected thanks to the whistleblower program. Back in 2021, CFTC officials warned members of Congress that the program had started delaying the processing of whistleblower cases due to a lack of funds and that the CFTC Office of the Whistleblower might be forced to furlough staff.

Later in 2021, Congress passed emergency legislation creating a separate fund for the Whistleblower Office, meaning that even if the award fund was depleted, the program could continue to function in working alongside whistleblowers to root out fraud and corruption.

This emergency measure expired at the end of the 2024 fiscal year, but a provision in the stopgap spending package has extended it through March 14, 2025.

In his award winning book on whistleblower law, Rules for Whistleblowers, Kohn described the CFTC Whistleblower Program as the “little engine that could” and outlined its incredibly successful enforcement actions, all done on a shoe string budget. According to the CFTC Whistleblower Office’s latest annual report to Congress, 42% of the agency’s enforcement matters involve whistleblowers and whistleblower disclosures have led to more than $3.2 billion in sanctions.

When Congress placed the cap on the CFTC Whistleblower Program’s fund back in 2010 it seemed like a fair number. The agency was little known and the great success of whistleblower award programs was not as well established.

Since then, however, the CFTC has greatly expanded as a critical law enforcement agency, thanks in large part to whistleblowers. In recent years the agency has levied massive sanctions against major global entities such as the world’s three largest oil traders, Vitol (a Dutch oil trader; $130 million sanction), Glencore (a Swiss oil trader; $1.2 billion sanction), Trafigura, (a Singapore oil trader; $55 million sanction), and the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance ($4 billion), to name a few.

While the emergency measure ensures the program will not collapse, a long-term funding solution is needed and has been called for by advocates, members of Congress and CFTC officials. The bipartisan CFTC Whistleblower Fund Improvement Act of 2023 currently pending in Congress would provide a sustainable funding solution for the program.