On November 22, 2024, the SEC’s Division of Enforcement announced its Enforcement Results for Fiscal Year 2024. For key takeaways for fund managers, read our post on Proskauer’s The Capital Commitment blog.
SEC Whistleblower Program
SEC Issues Largest Whistleblower Bounty Award Ever To One Individual
As we reported here, on May 5, 2023, the SEC issued an award of $279 million to a whistleblower. This is the largest award the SEC has issued to an individual whistleblower in the history of the SEC Office of the Whistleblower’s program.
Over $1 Billion Whistleblower Awards Paid to Date by the SEC
Last week, the SEC announced accumulated awards of over $1 billion paid to 207 whistleblowers since its first award in 2012. Over $500 million was awarded in fiscal year 2021 alone.
The SEC crossed the billion-dollar milestone with awards of $110 million and $4 million to two whistleblowers on September 15, 2021. The $110 million award marks the second-highest award to date and consists of $40 million stemming from an SEC case and $70 million for related actions by another agency.
Review of the SEC Whistleblower Program: At the Crossroads of Securities Law and Whistleblower Protection
Fiscal year 2020 marked the ten-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act establishing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program. Since its inception through the end of FY2020, the SEC has awarded approximately $562 million to 106 individuals. Even a decade after it was created, the whistleblower program continues to break its own records; in 2020, the SEC issued several awards landing in the top 10 whistleblower awards of all time.