SEC Confidential Whistleblower
Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto represented an anonymous whistleblower, who on May 17, 2021, received a whistleblower award of $13.5 million. The SEC Issues More Than $31 Million in Whistleblower Awards related to this case, which involved securities law violations.
Founding partner KKC Stephen M. Kohn commended this whistleblower for his or her courage, perseverance, and determination for speaking out against the fraudster. The whistleblower was compensated for the years of sacrifice and suffering, and will continue seeking full justice.
The anonymous whistleblower’s attorney, Stephen M. Kohn, made the following statement regarding the SEC’s Award:
“We congratulate our client for his or her courage, perseverance, and determination in holding fraudsters accountable. The whistleblower has obtained compensation for the significant sacrifices suffered over the years, and we hope that we can continue to work with him or her to obtain full justice in this case and continue to hold fraudsters accountable.
“These awards further demonstrate that the Dodd-Frank Act whistleblower laws covering securities, commodities and foreign bribery crimes work. They deter crime, put fraudster in jail, recover billions for investors, and protect the integrity of the markets.
“The Dodd-Frank Act provides whistleblowers with the compensation and protection they deserve. The SEC has created the safest reporting system ever devised to incentivize the disclosure of fraud.
“Congress needs to protect the Dodd-Frank Act from corporate attacks, and to expand similar protections into areas such as climate-related violations, social media accountability, and anti-trust.
“The confidentiality and anonymity provisions of the DFA make it possible for high-level executives and others to report fraud without risking their careers and livelihoods.
“Unfortunately, we are unable to provide any information related to the identity of the client or the company(ies) he or she reported to the SEC. But we can confirm that innocent investors saved millions of dollars based on the whistleblowers’ courageous actions.”
Reporting SEC Violations
SEC whistleblowers with original information of securities frauds can report SEC violations using the Form TCR (Tip, Referral, Complaint). If the SEC sanctions any guilty parties and the penalties exceed $1 million, the whistleblower may be eligible for an award ranging between 10-30% of the monies collected from successful enforcement actions.
Since the SEC program was created in 2011 the Commission has awarded over $873 million to whistleblowers, recovered billions and sanctions, and saved investors countless billions by holding hundreds (if not thousands) of fraudsters accountable.