SEC Awards Whistleblower $1.8 Million for Role in Exposing Misconduct
- posted: Nov. 14, 2019
- Whistleblower Litigation
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued yet another whistleblower award in late August, granting more than $1.8 million to a whistleblower who it said provided crucial and actionable information that led to a successful enforcement action involving misconduct overseas.
As is the custom with SEC whistleblower awards, no information was provided about the whistleblower, the company involved or the actions that led to the sanctions. Confidentiality is of the utmost importance in these types of whistleblower cases, and federal law requires the SEC to withhold any information that could potentially identify the whistleblower.
SEC continues issuing lucrative awards
This is at least the fourth time the SEC has issued an award to a whistleblower who assisted in a case from overseas, though the agency has not stated where any of these whistleblowers are located.
One overseas whistleblower was the recipient of what was at the time the largest ever whistleblower award under the SEC program, a $30 million award issued in 2014. In 2017, another foreign national working outside of the United States received $4.1 million for providing information about a significant, multi-year securities law violation scheme. And then in 2018, the SEC awarded another overseas-based whistleblower $4 million for providing significant assistance in a case that resulted in a successful enforcement action.
Regardless of where they’re located, whistleblowers are eligible for SEC awards if they are able to provide the agency with credible and original information that results in a successful enforcement action. Awards can be anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the money collected in the case, depending on how helpful the whistleblower’s information was. The penalties must be more than $1 million for the whistleblower to be guaranteed a collection.
This award brought the total SEC awards up to $387 million to 66 individuals since 2012.
For more information about filing an SEC whistleblower claim, contact Kardell Law Group.
