More people have stepped up as whistleblowers, and federal markets regulators are repaying their courage with significant cash in a renewed push to work with and reward those who report wrongdoing.

In September alone, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission handed out nearly $60 million in awards, including its second-largest award ever.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission — which had been relatively quiet, making only four awards since its whistleblower program’s creation in 2010 — announced a series of awards in July and August topping $75 million.

James McDonald, director of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement, has said he expects that trend to continue because of rising numbers of high-quality whistleblower tips.

The recent awards by the CFTC, which protects the futures and swaps markets, include:

• A $30 million award announced July 12. It was the largest award to-date and the fifth award by the CFTC’s whistleblower program. The previous high was a $10 million award in March 2016.
• A $70,000 award announced July 16, the CFTC’s first to a whistleblower living in a foreign country.
• Multiple whistleblower awards announced Aug. 2 totaling more than $45 million.

The SEC, which oversees the nation’s capital markets, also has been doling out plenty of significant awards. In September, it awarded $39 million to a whistleblower. The only larger award in the history of the SEC’s whistleblower program was a nearly $50 million one announced in March.

“These substantial awards send a strong message about the SEC’s commitment to whistleblowers and the value they bring to the agency’s mission,” Jane Norberg, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, said in a release.

She added that whistleblowers are invaluable and can help overcome obstacles and delays in an investigation.  

Other recent SEC whistleblower awards include:

• A $15 million award announced Sept. 6.
• A more than $1.5 million award announced Sept. 14, though the earned amount was reduced because the whistleblower didn’t report the situation promptly and benefited financially from the delay.
• A nearly $4 million award to an overseas whistleblower.

Since its inception in 2012, the SEC’s whistleblower program has awarded nearly $326 million to 59 individuals. That momentum has only grown, as we noted in June, with the SEC venturing into relatively new whistleblower territory to pursue public companies that have lax cybersecurity procedures.

The awards represent a significant amount of money, but they’ve enabled the SEC to order more than $1.7 billion in monetary sanctions against wrongdoers.

SEC and CFTC awards go to whistleblowers who voluntarily offer original, timely and credible information that yields successful enforcement actions. Award amounts can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when monetary sanctions top $1 million, and they’re paid for from the sanctions money. Whistleblower identities are closely guarded.

The uptick in whistleblower action comes despite a dramatic increase in retaliation against whistleblowers last year, according to a workplace ethics study. Retaliation is illegal but happens nonetheless, making it prudent to consult legal experts if you want to report wrongdoing going on in your workplace. Learn more about your options and protect yourself; call Keller Grover at 866-663-3308 for a free consultation, or find out more about specific types of whistleblower claims and how we can help you here.