The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has handed out one of the highest rewards recently with more than $50 million to two unnamed individuals for receiving insider information that led to successful enforcement actions.
In an announcement on Thursday, the financial market watchdog detailed that the duo alarmed the regulator about violations that involved highly complex transactions. The tip-off also resulted in the return of tens of millions of dollars to harmed investors.
In addition, the regulator praised the whistleblowers for their engagement and cooperation with the agency staff and said that the bust would be impossible without their insider information.
“Today’s award is the second-largest in the history of the program, reflecting the tremendous contribution of these joint whistleblowers to our ability to recover funds for harmed investors,” SEC’s Chief at the office of the Whistleblower , Jane Norberg, said. To date, the highest reward of $50 million was given to a single tipster last year.
Insiders Are Getting Encouraged by the Rewards
The US regulator started to compensate for solid insider information about financial irregularities from 2012. The program turned out to be a massive hit as more and more insiders are blowing whistles on misdeeds and receiving anywhere between 10 to 30 percent of the sanctioned money of the above $1 million.
Providing some stats of the program, the regulator said that it has awarded approximately $812 million to 151 individuals in total.
“The SEC has now awarded over a quarter of a billion dollars to whistleblowers in the first seven months of this fiscal year alone, demonstrating the tremendous value of whistleblowers to our enforcement program,” Norberg added.
