The Commodity Futures Trading Commission awarded two whistleblowers a combined amount of $2 million Monday for providing the agency with “significant information” that led to an investigation.
The award will be divided evenly between the whistleblowers because they jointly submitted the tip and award application to the CFTC.
The CFTC called them “model” whistleblowers.
One of them contributed to the investigation by “identifying key relationships and explaining complex financial arrangements,” the CFTC’s redacted award order (pdf) said.
Both provided interviews and documents to the CFTC that were “highly informative,” the agency said. They also reported “the same information to another organization, which conducted a separate investigation and shared its findings with the CFTC.”
The CFTC’s Christopher Ehrman said, “It often takes integrity and courage to report specific, timely, and credible information about misconduct, and such information enhances our ability to police the markets.”
By law, the CFTC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and doesn’t disclose information that might directly or indirectly reveal a whistleblower’s identity.
The program rewards people who voluntarily report violations of the Commodity Exchange Act if the information leads to a successful CFTC enforcement action resulting in sanctions of more than $1 million.
Since issuing its first award in 2014 the CFTC has awarded more than $90 million to whistleblowers.
The CFTC regulates the U.S. derivatives markets, including futures, options, and swaps. Its enforcement division investigates violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and the CFTC Regulations, such as fraud, market manipulation, and illegal trade practices.
_____
Harry Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
Comments are closed for this article!