(Bloomberg) - An anonymous whistleblower will receive more than $37 million for helping financial regulators investigate misconduct, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The tipster met with SEC staff and identified potential witnesses and documents that “significantly contributed” to a successful enforcement action, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday. Neither the enforcement action nor the identity of the whistleblower were disclosed, following agency policy.
“Today’s award illustrates the importance of the SEC’s whistleblower program, as the whistleblower’s information helped the agency return millions of dollars to harmed investors,” Creola Kelly, head of the agency’s whistleblower office, said in the statement.
The program was established by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act to organize and provide incentives to tipsters. Whistleblowers can receive from 10% to 30% of the amount collected in penalties in successful enforcement cases where fines exceed $1 million.
The SEC has paid out more than $1 billion in awards since the program’s inception.
By Tom Schoenberg
