A whistleblower who tipped off the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to misconduct and provided critical support to an investigation is picking up this year’s biggest award so far.
The SEC awarded US$27 million to a whistleblower who provided the agency with a lead on misconduct that was, at least partly, taking place overseas.
“After providing the tip to the commission, the whistleblower provided critical investigative leads that advanced the investigation and saved significant commission resources,” the SEC said in a release.
The specifics of whistleblower cases are not made public in order to protect the identities of people providing tips to the commission.
With this latest award, the SEC has now paid out US$425 million under its whistleblower program, which paid its first award in 2012.
“This is the largest whistleblower award announced by the commission this year, and the sixth largest award overall since the inception of the program,” said Jane Norberg, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, in a statement.
Earlier this month, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), which has its own whistleblower program modelled on the SEC’s, announced a $525,000 award.
Since launching its program in mid-2016, the OSC has awarded over $8 million to whistleblowers.