The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced awards of more than $104 million to seven individuals whose information and assistance led to a successful SEC enforcement action and related actions brought by another agency. Today’s combined award is the fourth largest in the SEC’s whistleblower program’s history.

The seven whistleblowers were composed of two sets of joint claimants and three single claimants, and each provided information that either prompted the opening of or significantly contributed to an SEC investigation. The seven individuals’ assistance to the staff included providing documents supporting the allegations of misconduct, sitting for interviews, and identifying potential witnesses.

“Today’s awards show that specific and credible information plays an integral part in the SEC’s enforcement efforts,” said Creola Kelly, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. “These whistleblowers provided information that helped Enforcement staff detect and prosecute wrongdoing in a timely manner.”

Payments to whistleblowers are made out of an investor protection fund, established by Congress, which is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards. Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action, and adhere to filing requirements in the whistleblower rules. Whistleblower awards can range from 10 to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.

The Order issued by the Commission is redacted to protect the whistleblowers identities. However, it does have some interesting and instructive information about the decision as to which whistleblowers were entitled to the awards. Here is the Order https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/other/2023/34-98054.pdf For example

As set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose any information that could reveal a whistleblower’s identity.

Jeffrey Newman is a whistleblower lawyer who handles cases under the SEC whistleblower program. He can be reached at Jeff@JeffNewmanLaw.com or at 617-823-3217