Since its enactment in 2010, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Whistleblower Program has successfully uncovered and prosecuted financial wrongdoing with the help of courageous whistleblowers. However, without emergency intervention by Congress, it will be doomed.
Congress caps the fund used to finance CFTC whistleblower rewards and operational costs at $100 million. The increasing number and size of whistleblower rewards have stretched the fund to its limits. A temporary solution enacted in 2021 provided a lifeline, but it expires at the end of this month.
The CFTC Whistleblower Program has successfully levied billions of dollars in sanctions against major global players involved in market manipulation and fraud. The Whistleblower Program relies on funds recovered from the wrongdoers themselves, not taxpayer dollars, to pay whistleblower rewards but the cap means that not enough of the sanctions can be placed into the fund. Ironically, the program’s success has created this current crisis.
Congress must enact emergency legislation to save the CFTC Whistleblower Program immediately. The whistleblower advocacy NGO, National Whistleblower Center, urges the public to use their voices and demand Congress pass an emergency measure to save this invaluable program.