On February 14, Caroline D. Pham, the Acting Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Brian Young, formerly Director of the CFTC Whistleblower Office, has been named the CFTC’s Director of the Division of Enforcement.
Young took over the lead role at the CFTC Whistleblower Program in February 2024 after many years at the U.S. Department of Justice where much of his case work involved whistleblower-initiated violation of the civil False Claims Act.
Throughout his time as Director of the CFTC Whistleblower Office, Young continually praised the importance of whistleblowers to the agency’s enforcement efforts.
“Leads generated from insiders are critically important to any financial enforcement program,” said Young when he took over the role. “The tremendous accomplishments of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Program confirm this view. I look forward to working with and learning from the talented CFTC staff to combat wrongdoing.”
“As Director of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Office, Brian Young demonstrated a strong commitment in working alongside whistleblowers to root out fraud and corruption in the commodities market,” says whistleblower attorney Andrew Feller, co-Chair of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto’s Securities and Commodities Whistleblower Group. “His perspective and experience on the importance of empowering whistleblowers should greatly bolster the CFTC’s enforcement efforts.”
“In the face of the current uncertainty around funding and staffing levels at the CFTC, a robust whistleblower program is more important than ever in empowering the CFTC to detect and address wrongdoing,” Feller adds.
At the 2024 National Whistleblower Day celebration on Capitol Hill he spoke further about the successes of the program and the critical role whistleblowers play.
“The whistleblower program we have is a really important part of a really important mission,” Young said in his speech.
The CFTC Whistleblower Program, which offers monetary awards and anti-retaliation protections to whistleblowers, has allowed the CFTC to recover over $3.2 billion from fraudsters since it was established in 2010. It has correspondingly awarded over $370 million to qualified whistleblowers. According to the CFTC, approximately 30% of all the agency’s enforcement actions involve whistleblowers.
The program has been in danger of being a victim of its own success, however. When it established the program, Congress placed a $100 million cap on the fund used to finance the CFTC Whistleblower Office and pay out whistleblower awards. This fund is entirely financed by sanctions collected through the program, but any sanctions that would exceed the cap are instead placed into the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s general fund.
Advocates, members of Congress and CFTC officials have all called for a long-term solution to the CFTC Whistleblower Program’s funding issue. The bipartisan CFTC Whistleblower Fund Improvement Act of 2023 would provide a sustainable solution by raising the cap on the fund to $300 million and making permanent the separate fund for the Whistleblower Office.
National Whistleblower Center has issued an Action Alert allowing whistleblower supports to write to Congress calling for the passage of the CFTC Whistleblower Fund Improvement Act and other reform bills addressing problems at whistleblower programs.
Join NWC in Taking Action:
Further Reading:
Acting Chairman Pham Announces Brian Young as Director of Enforcement
Whistleblower Tips Are “Critically Important” Says New CFTC Whistleblower Director
Congress Extends Emergency Funding Fix for CFTC Whistleblower Program, But Need for Reform Remains
