SEC gives whistleblower $4.5 million

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given a whistleblower more than $4.5 million, the first award under a program designed to incentivize whistleblowers to report wrongdoing internally as well as to the SEC.

The whistleblower alleged “significant wrongdoing” in an anonymous tip to the company before submitting the same information to the SEC, the commission said Friday in a release. The company investigated the allegations internally and reported them to the commission, and the SEC opened its own investigation.

The provision of the whistleblower rules rewards whistleblowers who report wrongdoing internally and report the same information to the SEC within 120 days.

“In this case, the whistleblower was credited with the results of the company’s internal investigation, which were reported to the SEC by the company and led to the commission’s resulting enforcement action and the related action,” said Jane Norberg, chief of the SEC’s whistleblower office, in a statement.

“The whistleblower gets credit for the company’s internal investigation because the allegations were reported to the commission within 120 days of the report to the company.”

The SEC has awarded roughly $381 million to 62 people since 2012. Whistleblower awards range from 10% to 30% of the money collected when monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.

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