Established by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Whistleblower Program has become the gold-standard of whistleblower award programs.
The SEC Whistleblower Program offers monetary awards and anti-retaliation protections to whistleblowers who report securities violations, including Ponzi schemes, theft or misuse of funds or securities, insider trading, fraudulent or unregistered securities offering, and false or misleading statements about a company.
Qualified SEC whistleblowers are entitled to awards for between 10 and 30% of the funds collected by the government. Since issuing its first award in 2012, the SEC has awarded over $1.2 billion to over 250 whistleblowers. Some of the largest SEC whistleblower awards include a $114 million award issued in October 2020 and a $110 million award issued in September 2021.
