Washington, D.C. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced awards totaling approximately $500,000 to two whistleblowers. The whistleblowers separately provided significant information and substantial assistance that helped the Division of Enforcement expand the scope of an existing investigation and lead the Division to other key evidence supporting the enforcement action.
“These awards further show the importance of whistleblower tips to our entire enforcement program, including high-priority areas,” said CFTC Acting Director of Enforcement Vincent McGonagle. “Information from whistleblowers has helped the Commission not only start investigations, but also bring them to a successful conclusion.”
“These awards show how a whistleblower’s information can advance the Commission’s enforcement efforts, even if the CFTC does not ultimately charge the specific violations the whistleblower has reported,” added Whistleblower Office Director Christopher Ehrman. “As long as the information significantly contributes to a successful investigation, the whistleblower may be eligible for an award.”
About the CFTC’s Whistleblower Program
The CFTC’s Whistleblower Program was created under Section 748 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Since issuing its first award in 2014, the CFTC has granted whistleblower awards amounting to approximately $300 million. Those awards are associated with enforcement actions that have resulted in monetary sanctions totaling more than $3 billion. The CFTC 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 Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) provides confidentiality protections for whistleblowers. Regardless of whether the CFTC grants an award, the CFTC will not disclose any information that could reasonably be expected to reveal a whistleblower’s identity, except in limited circumstances. Consistent with this confidentiality protection, the CFTC will not disclose the name of the enforcement action in which the whistleblower provided information or the exact dollar amount of the award granted.
Whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 10 and 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected. All whistleblower awards are paid from the CFTC Customer Protection Fund, which was established by Congress, and is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the CFTC by violators of the CEA. No money is taken or withheld from injured customers to fund the program.
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Anyone with information related to potential violations of the CEA or the CFTC’s rules and regulations can submit a tip electronically by filing a Form TCR (Tip, Complaint or Referral) online.
Go to Whistleblower.gov for more information about CFTC’s Whistleblower program.
Source: CFTC
