Whistleblower receives almost $4 million award from SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced giving a nearly $3.8 million award to a whistleblower who provided the agency with important information and helped the agency disrupt an ongoing fraudulent scheme and allowed harmed investors to recover their money.

Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower commented:

Today’s award underscores the paramount role the SEC’s whistleblower program plays in safeguarding the Main Street investor. Since the beginning of the program nearly ten years ago, the SEC has ordered more than $2.5 billion in financial remedies based on whistleblower information, including more than $1.4 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, of which almost $750 million has been returned or is scheduled to be returned to harmed investors.

Whistleblower

So far, the agency has awarded over $505 million to 87 individuals for their help since the first award was issued in 2012. Payment of the awards is taken out of an investor protection fund set up by Congress. It is financed through monetary sanctions of security law violations paid to SEC.

To be eligible for award, a whistleblower needs to voluntarily provide the commission with reliable information that leads to successful enforcement action. The awards range between 10 and 30 % of the money collected by SEC when the sanction is for more than $1 million.

According to the Dodd-Frank Act, SEC must protect the identity of the whistleblower and not disclose any information that could reveal it.


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