The US Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced two whistleblower awards for claimants whose voluntary, original information led to two successful enforcement actions.
On November 13, 2020, the SEC awarded $1.1 million to a claimant whose original information was the result of “independent analysis.” According to the SEC’s order granting the award, the claimant analyzed “publicly available materials” and then “provided important insight into possible securities violations that were not apparent from the face of the public materials themselves.” The SEC noted that this caused the SEC staff to “re-focus an ongoing investigation.”
On November 19, 2020, the SEC awarded a claimant over $900,000 for providing information related to alleged securities violations that were occurring overseas and that therefore, in some cases, would have been difficult to detect without the whistleblower’s assistance. The information provided enabled the SEC to expand and expedite an ongoing investigation, and resulted in the SEC bringing additional charges.
To date, the SEC has awarded over $721 million to 114 individuals since the whistleblower award program began in 2012.
SEC Press Release – 11/13/2020 | SEC Order | SEC Press Release – 11/19/2020 | SEC Order 2