SEC awards $50 million to joint whistleblowers as Chief prepares to step down
“Today’s award is the second-largest in the history of the program, reflecting the tremendous contribution of these joint whistleblowers to our ability to recover funds for harmed investors. The SEC has now awarded over a quarter of a billion dollars to whistleblowers in the first seven months of this fiscal year alone, demonstrating the tremendous value of whistleblowers to our enforcement program”, said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has awarded over $50 million to joint whistleblowers of a criminal operation involving highly complex transactions which would have been difficult to detect without their information.
The joint whistleblowers, whose names will remain anonymous, met with the SEC staff numerous times and provided voluminous detailed documents which resulted in the return of tens of millions of dollars to harmed investors.
Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, said: “Today’s award is the second-largest in the history of the program, reflecting the tremendous contribution of these joint whistleblowers to our ability to recover funds for harmed investors. The SEC has now awarded over a quarter of a billion dollars to whistleblowers in the first seven months of this fiscal year alone, demonstrating the tremendous value of whistleblowers to our enforcement program.”
Whistleblower awards can range from 10-30% of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million. The SEC has now awarded approximately $812 million to 151 individuals since issuing its first award in 2012.
Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, has recently announced she is leaving the SEC.
She has streamlined the awards review and adjudication process, managed an expansion of the Office’s staff, and oversaw a dramatic growth in the number of awards issued to whistleblowers under the program.
In 2020, the number of awards issued to whistleblowers was tripled and the Commission received a record number of whistleblower tips.
The program allowed the SEC to bring successful enforcement actions that resulted in orders for more than $3.1 billion in sanctions, including more than $1.8 billion in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and interest, of which over $760 million has been, or is scheduled to be, returned to harmed investors.
