Whistleblowing compliance officer to get $1.5 million award

A compliance officer will receive a whistleblower award of between $1.4 million and $1.6 million, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.

The SEC said in a statement that the compliance officer had a “reasonable basis” to believe the disclosure to the SEC was necessary to prevent “imminent misconduct from causing substantial financial harm to the company or investors.”

The SEC did not identify either the officer or the company. By law, the SEC cannot reveal information that might directly or indirectly reveal a whistleblower's identity.

“When investors or the market could suffer substantial financial harm, our rules permit compliance officers to receive an award for reporting misconduct to the SEC,” said Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, in the statement. “This compliance officer reported misconduct after responsible management at the entity became aware of potentially impending harm to investors and failed to take steps to prevent it.”

The SEC said in March that it planned to award a former company officer between $475,000 and $575,000 to a whistleblower for information he learned from another employee.