The SEC Whistleblower Program’s 2019 Annual Report to Congress reveals that SEC whistleblower awards have proven to be successful in protecting investors and promoting market integrity. Since the program’s inception, whistleblower tips have enabled the SEC to recover more than $2 billion in monetary sanctions from wrongdoers, including more than $1 billion in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and interest, of which almost $500 million has been, or is scheduled to be, returned to harmed investors.
The report also indicates that the SEC Whistleblower Program is continuing to attract a high volume of tips, some of which have enabled the SEC to halt securities frauds early and minimize investor losses. In fiscal year 2019, the SEC received more than 5,200 tips, the second-highest number of tips received in a fiscal year and a 74 percent increase since the beginning of the program. And during fiscal 2019, the SEC paid whistleblower awards totaling $60 million. Nearly a decade after Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC Whistleblower Program has proven to be a “game changer” for the Commission, providing a source of “high-quality information regarding potential securities laws violations promptly to the Commission, which in turn, helps the Commission better protect investors and the marketplace.”
via SEC Whistleblower Program Releases 2019 Annual Report – Zuckerman Law.
