Pair of whistleblowers rewarded with US$50 million

U.S. securities regulators have handed out another large reward to a pair of whistleblowers, including the third-highest payout so far under a program of paying financial rewards for tips detailing major securities misconduct.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it had paid a total of US$50 million to a couple of tipsters — one received US$37 million, and the other got US$13 million — who provided the SEC with high-quality information that helped it bring a significant enforcement action. The commission doesn’t provide details on these cases to protect the identities of the whistleblowers involved.

The SEC said the US$37 million award represents its third-largest whistleblower payout to date, surpassed only by a US$50 million bounty that was paid in March 2018 and a US$39 million award announced in September 2018.

In total, the SEC has now paid out approximately US$376 million to 61 whistleblowers since it issued its first award in 2012.

“Whistleblowers like those being awarded today may be the source of ‘smoking gun’ evidence and indispensable assistance that strengthens the agency’s ability to protect investors and the capital markets,” Jane Norberg, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, said in a statement.

“These awards show how critically important whistleblowers can be to the agency’s investigation and ability to bring a case to successful and efficient resolution,” she added.

Last month, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced its first-ever payouts (a combined $7.5 million to three tipsters) under its new whistleblower program. The OSC is Canada’s only securities regulator that has adopted a program that pays financial rewards for tips that generate major enforcement action.

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The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.