First-Ever SEC Bounty Winner Receives Additional Payout

The SEC Office of the Whistleblower recently announced that the first-ever whistleblower award under the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program will be increased by $150,000 based on additional assets the SEC collected from one the defendants in the case.

In August 2012, the SEC paid its first-ever bounty award to a tipster in accordance with the whistleblower provisions in Dodd-Frank.  That award initially totaled nearly $50,000, and was paid to an unidentified individual who, according to the SEC, "provided documents and other significant information" that accelerated the agency's investigation, prevented the "fraud from ensnaring additional victims," and led to court-order sanctions totaling over $1 million.  The SEC stated at that time that the award represented 30 percent of the sanctions collected thus far—the maximum percentage payout allowed under Dodd-Frank—and "any increase in the sanctions ordered and collected will increase payments to the whistleblower."