- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Kyle Brasseur2023-05-05T15:08:00
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday announced its largest-ever whistleblower award at nearly $279 million—more than double the agency’s previous record bounty.
The payout is to one individual; two others who tried to claim shares of the award had their petitions denied. The SEC does not reveal details related to whistleblower cases that might identify the award recipient, including the enforcement action the tipster provided information regarding.
Whistleblower awards range from 10 to 30 percent of monetary sanctions collected from an enforcement case.
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The SEC announced a $104 million award split among seven whistleblowers, but the fact nearly a dozen claimants contacted the agency seeking to provide information related to one action should be notable to companies regarding the stakes of the current whistleblower landscape.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced awards totaling more than $104 million to seven whistleblowers whose information and assistance led to a successful enforcement action.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in a case, Murray v. UBS Securities, that has focused attention on the burden of proof whistleblowers reporting misconduct internally must meet to establish retaliation by their public company employer.
Two pairs of claimants will receive whistleblower awards totaling more than $98 million and $24 million, respectively, for information they provided to the Securities and Exchange Commission that led to an enforcement action.
Discrimination against whistleblowers in the U.K. has risen to such a level that the government may need to actively pursue plans to afford greater legal protection, as well as introduce financial awards to compensate for their “career suicide.”
The Department of Justice released the details of its long-awaited corporate whistleblower awards pilot program that will prioritize reporting in areas of corporate crime not currently covered by existing whistleblower programs.
