- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2020-09-23T20:54:00
More than two years after proposing them, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a series of controversial amendments to its whistleblower program designed to make the issuance of awards more streamlined and efficient.
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For the first time, the SEC has made an award to a whistleblower who provided information that led to a related settlement by another agency—in this case, the Department of Justice.
A $114 million whistleblower payout announced Thursday is the highest ever awarded by the Securities and Exchange Commission, more than doubling the previous $50 million record set in June.
The record amount of whistleblower payouts by the SEC in fiscal year 2020 ($175M) happened because the agency made quickening the pace of awards a priority, whistleblower advocates say.
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.
