Whistleblowers Reap Massive Rewards as CFTC Issues $4.5 Million in Awards

The CFTC announced four separate orders granting awards totaling approximately $4.5 million to a total of seven whistleblowers yesterday. This marks the most whistleblower awards issued by the CFTC in a single day. The awards recognize the critical contributions of whistleblowers who provided information that led to successful enforcement actions by the CFTC and other authorities. The whistleblowers come from a variety of backgrounds, including victims of fraud, market participants, and employees with compliance responsibilities.

"Whistleblowers provide information from a variety of vantage points that helps preserve market integrity and fairness," said Ian McGinley, Director of Enforcement at the CFTC. "The multiple awards the CFTC is granting today serve as a warning to would-be wrongdoers across the markets we oversee that anyone may blow the whistle on their misconduct."

One group of four whistleblowers, who were victims of fraud, significantly contributed to the resolution of both a CFTC action and a related criminal action. Their information provided insight into the broad scope of the misconduct and helped identify additional victims.

Another whistleblower, also a victim, alerted the CFTC to a new fraud by a repeat offender. This whistleblower's ongoing assistance helped uncover additional evidence of misconduct that led to additional charges.

A market participant whistleblower's information led the CFTC to look into different conduct as part of an existing investigation, which directly resulted in important evidence supporting the CFTC's charges.

The final whistleblower awarded was an employee with compliance and internal audit responsibilities. This whistleblower reported violations internally and then waited at least 120 days before contacting the CFTC when no meaningful remedial action was taken. This award is the second involving the CFTC's 120-day safe harbor provision for such employees.

"Today's awards illustrate the CFTC's Whistleblower Program is open to nearly anyone who voluntarily provides original information about a violation, including victims, witnesses, insiders, market participants, and employees," said Brian Young, Director of the CFTC's Whistleblower Office.

With these four new orders, the CFTC has issued 12 whistleblower awards so far this fiscal year, the most on record. Since the program's inception in 2014, the CFTC has granted approximately $380 million in awards associated with enforcement actions totaling nearly $3.2 billion in monetary sanctions.

The CFTC's Whistleblower Program was created under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, providing confidentiality protections and the potential for whistleblowers to receive between 10 and 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected. The awards are paid from the CFTC's Customer Protection Fund, which is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid by violators of the Commodity Exchange Act.

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