A company insider has earned a whistleblower award of more than US$500,000 for reporting information that prompted an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into “well-hidden misconduct,” the regulator announced on Tuesday.
Under its whistleblower program, the SEC pays financial rewards for original information that leads to significant enforcement action. The regulator does not disclose the details of these cases, in order to protect the identity of tipsters.
“This company employee saw something wrong and did the right thing by reporting what turned out to be hard-to-detect violations of the securities laws,” says Jane Norberg, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, in a statement. “Company insiders are in a unique position to provide specific information that allows us to better protect investors and the marketplace. We encourage insiders with information to bring it to our attention.”
With this latest whistleblower award, the second announced by the SEC in the past week, 44 whistleblowers have now received US$154 million for reporting possible misconduct to the SEC.
Last year, the Ontario Securities Commission also established Canada’s first regulatory whistleblower program that pays rewards for information that leads to successful securities enforcement action. It has yet to announce any awards being paid under that program.