SEC Awards Second Whistleblower Award to Compliance Officer
22nd April 2015
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday an award of more than a million dollars to an employee who provided information that helped the SEC in an enforcement action against the whistleblower’s company. This is the SEC’s second award to an internal audit or compliance professional and was given to a compliance officer who had reason to believe that disclosure to the SEC was needed to prevent misconduct from causing financial harm to the company or investors. As a result, the whistleblower will receive between $1.4 million and $1.6 million.
SEC Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected in a successful enforcement action with sanctions exceeding $1 million. By law, the SEC must protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers and cannot reveal information that might directly or indirectly disclose their identities.
Since the program began in 2011, the SEC’s whistleblower program has paid more than $50 million to 16 whistleblowers who gave the SEC unique and useful information leading to a successful enforcement action.