A whistleblower who worked at an unnamed U.S. investment firm has been awarded more than US$325,000 for tipping off regulators to fraudulent activity, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Wednesday.

Whistleblower awards are kept anonymous, and the SEC only provides general details on these cases, in order to protect the identity of tipsters.

In this instance, the SEC reports that the whistleblower provided a detailed description of misconduct, and identified the individuals responsible, which led to successful enforcement action. However, SEC also notes that the whistleblower waited until after leaving the firm to come forward, and agency officials say the award could have been higher had this whistleblower not hesitated.

“Corporate insiders who become aware of securities law violations are encouraged to come forward without delay in order to prevent misconduct from continuing unabated while investors suffer more harm,” says Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC’s division of enforcement, in a statement. “Whistleblowers are afforded significant incentives and protections under the Dodd-Frank Act and the SEC’s whistleblower program so they can feel secure about doing the right thing and immediately reporting an ongoing fraud rather than letting time pass.”

Under the SEC’s program, which was adopted in 2011 in response to the financial crisis, whistleblowers are eligible for awards of between 10% and 30% of the money collected in cases where enforcement sanctions exceed US$1 million.

Last month, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) formally proposed introducing a similar program, which would pay up to $1.5 million to whistleblowers, regardless of how much regulators collect, and, as much as $5 million in cases where the OSC collects more than $10 million in sanctions.

OSC hikes whistleblower payout limit to $5 million

The OSC proposal is currently out for comment, and has not been finalized, or approved by the Minister of Finance. The OSC is hoping to introduce the program in the spring of 2016.

The SEC reports that, since the inception of its program, it has paid more than US$54 million to 22 whistleblowers.