The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has awarded a whistleblower approximately $3 million for a tip resulting in the CFTC opening an investigation that yielded enforcement action.
“This milestone illustrates that the CFTC’s Whistleblower Program has had a tremendous impact on increasing our enforcement efforts in its short history,” CFTC Acting Director of Enforcement Vincent McGonagle said. “In many of our actions, whistleblowers’ assistance has been critical in revealing wrongdoing, and their tips ultimately conserve the CFTC’s time and resources.”
The CFTC has granted whistleblower awards associated with enforcement actions resulting in monetary sanctions totaling more than $1 billion. The agency’s Whistleblower Program was created under Section 748 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The CFTC issued its first award in 2014 and indicated it issues awards related not only to the agency’s enforcement actions but also in connection with actions brought by other domestic or foreign regulators if certain conditions are met.
The CFTC will not disclose information that could be expected to reveal a whistleblower’s identity, save for limited circumstances. And the CFTC will also not disclose the name of the enforcement action in which the whistleblower provided information or the exact dollar amount of the award granted.