SEC Provides Explicit Whistleblower Guidance – Hunting Season Is Now Open

By Thomas Sullivan Last updated May 5, 2018

The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower recently announced that its whistleblower awards have now exceeded over $100 million including the approximately $500 million regarding financial remedies in the form of SEC fines, forfeiture, and other penalties. The Program established by Congress to incentivize whistleblowers with specific, timely and credible information about federal securities laws violations to report to the SEC, continues to be a very integral part of the SEC’s overall enforcement and compliance plan.

Compliance officers have long talked about the “threat” whistleblowers pose to companies, especially as whistleblowers started coming forward in the hopes of big payouts. However, in August, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) revealed just how lucrative it has been for whistleblowers. Since 2011, with the help of whistleblowers, the SEC has awarded over $100 million to recover more than $500 million.