The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has paid a whistleblower award of more than US$2.2 million to a former corporate insider who first reported suspected misconduct to another federal agency and later co-operated with the SEC after the agency referred the case to the securities regulator.
This is the first award paid under a provision of the SEC’s whistleblower rules that allow tipsters to qualify for awards if they report to the SEC within 120 days of first reporting information to another federal agency.
“Whistleblowers, especially non-lawyers, may not always know where to report, or may report to multiple agencies,” says Jane Norberg, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, in a statement.
“This award shows that whistleblowers can still receive an award if they first report to another agency, as long as they also report their information to the SEC within the 120-day safe harbour period and their information otherwise meets the eligibility criteria for an award.”
The details of whistleblower cases are not reported in order to protect the identity of tipsters.
With this latest award, the SEC has now paid more than US$264 million to 54 whistleblowers since it began paying its awards in 2012, the regulator says.