CFTC ANNOUNCES ITS LARGEST WHISTLEBLOWER
AWARD TO DATE – KEY TAKEAWAYS
By Bart Chilton, Brett Ingerman, Nicolette Kost De Sevres and Bradley Cohen
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has announced its third and largest
whistleblower award to date – an award of more than $10 million – to a whistleblower who
provided information that led to a successful CFTC enforcement action.
The CFTC expressed optimism that this sizeable award, announced on April 4, 2016, will
prompt more whistleblowers to come forward. The two previous CFTC whistleblower
awards were announced in May 2014 and September 2015 for $240,000 and $290,000,
respectively.
The CFTC’s Whistleblower Program – created pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 – allows for the payment of monetary awards
to eligible whistleblowers who voluntarily share information with or assist the CFTC with
successful enforcement actions resulting in monetary sanctions greater than $1 million.
Eligible whistleblowers may receive a total amount of between 10 percent to 30 percent of
the monetary sanctions collected by the CFTC.
Find out more about the implications of this development and see our key takeaways for
companies. |