On September 30, 2020, the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower announced multi-million dollar awards to two whistleblowers who provided the SEC with information that assisted the agency in bringing a successful enforcement action. (The order granting the awards can be accessed here.) The larger of the two awards, $22 million, is one of the SEC’s highest awards to date and was awarded to an insider who was the first to alert the SEC of potential wrongdoing, persistently internally reported and elevated their concerns in an effort to remedy the conduct, and provided substantial, ongoing assistance to the SEC during the investigation. The second award of $7 million was given to an insider who provided additional valuable information.
Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, said in a press release that “[t]he information and assistance provided by today’s whistleblowers helped the agency return tens of millions of dollars to harmed retail investors.” She added, “[w]e hope that awards like the ones issued by the Commission today will continue to incentivize individuals to come forward and report high-quality tips to the SEC.”
Since the inception of the whistleblower program in 2011, the SEC has awarded approximately $557 million to 102 individuals.