The SEC said Tuesday it awarded two whistleblowers more than $875,000 for their tips that helped the agency bring an enforcement action.
The two individuals will split the money evenly.
The SEC didn’t release details of the enforcement action or the identities of the whistleblowers.
“By law,” the agency said in a release, “the SEC must protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers and cannot disclose any information that might directly or indirectly reveal a whistleblower’s identity.”
The SEC set up its whistleblower program in 2011 as part of the Dodd-Frank Act.
The program “rewards high-quality, original information that results in an SEC enforcement action with sanctions exceeding $1 million,” the SEC said.
Awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected in a case.
The chief of the SEC whistleblower office, Sean McKessy, said Tuesday the two individuals provided original information and help that “enabled the SEC to investigate and bring a successful enforcement action in a complex area of the securities market.”
Eight whistleblowers have now collected money through the SEC’s award program.
The SEC’s June 3, 2014 release is here.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
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