The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday it will jointly award more than US$450,000 to two people for a tip that led the agency to open a corporate accounting investigation, and for their assistance once the investigation was underway.
With this latest award, the SEC has paid US$10 million to whistleblowers this week, bringing the program’s total to US$68 million since it was launched in 2011.
“The recent flurry of awards reflects the high-quality nature of the tips the SEC is receiving as public awareness of the whistleblower program grows,” says Sean McKessy, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, in statement.
To protect the confidentiality of tipsters, the SEC doesn’t provide details of cases that result in whistleblower awards.
“These two individuals not only submitted valuable tips to help open our investigation but also provided valuable assistance as we proceeded, showing that our program particularly rewards those eager to continue helping us throughout the process of bringing an enforcement action,” adds McKessy.
Later this year, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is expected to launch Canada’s first program to pay rewards for tips that lead to successful securities enforcement action.