Two Whistleblowers Get over $6 Million from US Watchdog

Two whistleblowers have been awarded more than $6 million by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

On Friday, the SEC disclosed that the whistleblowers provided critical information and assistance in its investigation of two separate financial misconducts.

The US financial markets supervisor said it issued an order for the award of more than $3 million to each whistleblower.

However, in accordance with the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC concealed the identity of the whistleblowers to protect them.

The agency explained that the first whistleblower alerted the body when it was solicited to invest in a product it believed was being misrepresented.

The SEC said the whistleblower’s alert prompted the opening of an investigation into the issue.

Subsequently, the said whistleblower continued to cooperate with the regulatory authority’s enforcement staff, the SEC said.

The second whistleblower is an insider who submitted a detailed scoop to the agency after initially raising the alarm internally on the matter, the SEC explained.

The scoop aided the agency in opening an investigation into the matter, the securities markets supervisor pointed out.

Furthermore, the second whistleblower met with the enforcement staff of the agency at various times during the course of the investigation to provide more information on the issue.

$1.3 Billion in Whistleblowers’ Awards

Creola Kelly, the Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, noted that both the insiders and outsiders are very instrumental to the watchdog’s ability to sniff out misconduct and protect investors.

"When confronted with potential wrongdoing, today’s whistleblowers refused to look the other way, but instead, chose to do the right thing by reporting it to the SEC," Kelly explained.

Since 2012, when the first award was issued, the SEC has awarded approximately $1.3 billion to 276 individuals.

Whistleblowers are rewarded between 10 and 30% of the money collected when the recuperated fund is more than $1 million.

Moreover, the supervisory authority explained that payments to whistleblowers are made from an investor protection fund instituted by the United States Congress.

This fund, it added, is financed wholly from monetary sanctions paid to the agency by violators of the US securities laws.

“No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards,” the SEC said in the statement.