Compliance & Ethics

Between July and September, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) granted 10 whistleblower awards worth more than $150 million, recognizing individuals whose original information helped the CFTC and other authorities bring successful enforcement actions. The Commission announced the final award determinations Monday, putting a number on what it describes as a record year for a whistleblower program that had entered 2026 carrying a substantial backlog.

Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay nearly $385 million to settle allegations that it sold infant formula and nutritional products to government programs while failing to meet federal and state requirements at two of its manufacturing facilities, closing a False Claims Act case built around conditions the Justice Department says exposed products to an unacceptable risk of contamination.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved a rule that could make the outcome of smaller whistleblower claims considerably easier to anticipate, establishing a presumption that qualifying awards of $5 million or less will be paid at the statutory maximum of 30%.

KPMG asked 725 chief ethics and compliance officers where they expect to put additional money. The answer was not subtle. Among respondents anticipating budget increases, 77% pointed to data analytics and 75% to cybersecurity and data privacy. AI or large language models came next at 50%, followed by process automation at 49%. Upskilling talent, at 34%, trailed considerably further behind.

Chemours, DuPont and Corteva have agreed to pay $455 million over 15 years to settle a collection of North Carolina lawsuits over PFAS contamination, resolving claims that reach back through years of discharges from Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility and extend to contamination the state says originated elsewhere.

There is a strange rule in compliance: when something goes wrong, organizations add a control. A regulator raises a concern? Add a control. An auditor finds a weakness? Add another. A cyberattack happens? Add three. A new framework arrives? Someone opens a spreadsheet. Nobody ever gets celebrated for deleting one.

Dompé has agreed to pay $32 million to resolve allegations that it used patient assistance foundations to cover Medicare beneficiaries’ co-pays for Oxervate, its prescription drug, turning what appeared to be charitable assistance into what federal authorities alleged were unlawful inducements to purchase the company’s product.