SEC whistleblower payouts reach new high

Two whistleblowers are sharing an award of nearly $50 million, and a third is receiving more than $33 million — the highest-ever whistleblower awards under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act — the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday.

The previous high was a $30 million award, which was awarded in 2014.

“These awards demonstrate that whistleblowers can provide the SEC with incredibly significant information that enables us to pursue and remedy serious violations that might otherwise go unnoticed,” Jane Norberg, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, said in a statement. “We hope that these awards encourage others with specific, high-quality information regarding securities laws violations to step forward and report it to the SEC.”

The SEC has awarded more than $262 million to 53 whistleblowers since it issued its first award in 2012.

The agency does not disclose whistleblowers’ identities, nor those of the companies for whom they worked.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in February that says whistleblowers are not protected from retaliation under Dodd-Frank if they only report wrongdoing internally is likely to encourage them to go straight to the Securities and Exchange Commission, say attorneys.