Three whistleblowers will share an award of more than US$7 million for helping U.S. securities regulators prosecute an investment scheme, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Monday.
The primary whistleblower in the case will receive more than US$4 million while the two others who provided fresh information to the regulator’s investigation will split more than US$3 million, states the SEC, which does not disclose the details of the cases that generate whistleblower awards to protect the identity of tipsters.
“Whistleblowers played an important role in the success of this case as they helped our agency detect and prosecute a scheme preying on vulnerable investors,” says Jane Norberg, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, in a statement. “Whistleblowers not only helped us open the investigation but provided critical information after the investigation was already underway.”
The SEC has now awarded approximately US$149 million in total to 41 whistleblowers that have helped the agency’s enforcement actions. The enforcement cases generated by whistleblower tips have produced more than US$935 million in financial remedies, the SEC notes.