The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced giving more than $900,000 award to a whistleblower who identified securities law violations occurring overseas. The whistleblower’s timely and important information resulted in a significant expansion of an ongoing investigation.
Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower said:
Today’s award underscores the significance of the SEC whistleblower program’s global reach. The agency has received whistleblower tips from individuals in 130 countries. Overseas whistleblowers are in a unique position to help identify wrongdoing occurring abroad that may otherwise be hard to detect.
So far, the agency has awarded over $721 million to total of 114 individuals since the first award was issued in 2012. Payment of the awards is taken out of an investor protection fund set up by Congress. It is financed through monetary sanctions of security law violations paid to SEC.
To be eligible for award, a whistleblower needs to voluntarily provide the commission with reliable information that leads to successful enforcement action. The awards range between 10 and 30 % of the money collected by SEC when the sanction is for more than $1 million.
According to the Dodd-Frank Act, SEC must protect the identity of the whistleblower and not disclose any information that could reveal it.
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