Despite the fact that regulators were already investigating the case, a whistleblower who provided an enforcement tip to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is still enjoying a US$20 million payday.
The regulator announced the award to a tipster who provided information and ongoing assistance that “significantly contributed to a successful enforcement action.”
According to the SEC’s order, it was already on the case in question based on a “detailed referral” to its enforcement division from the regulator’s compliance examination unit.
As a result of that internal referral, enforcement “had been investigating the conduct for more than a year before receiving [the whistleblower’s] tip,” the order noted.
As a result, the order indicated that “much of the information” provided by the tipster “was already known to the enforcement staff, and the new, helpful information [the whistleblower] provided was fairly limited.”
“On the other hand, [the whistleblower] met with enforcement staff multiple times and remained cooperative throughout the investigation,” the order said.
“Whistleblowers may lead to the success of an enforcement matter by providing information that causes an investigation or examination to open or that meaningfully advances an existing investigation,” said Creola Kelly, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, in a release.