The SEC released its Fiscal Year 2016 Annual Report (the
"Report") to Congress on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower
Program on November 15, 2016. The Report analyzes the tips received
over the last twelve months by the SEC's Office of the
Whistleblower ("OWB"), provides additional information
about the whistleblower awards to date, discusses the OWB's
efforts to combat agreements that chill whistleblowers, and
describes the OWB's recent activity in the anti-retaliation
arena.
Breakdown of Tips Received in FY 2016
The OWB reported a modest increase in the number of
whistleblower tips and complaints that it received in
2016–4,218 tips in 2016 compared to 3,923 tips in 2015.
Overall, the 2016 whistleblower tips were similar in number and
type of whistleblower tips reported in 2015. As in 2015,
the most common types of allegations in 2016 were Corporate
Disclosure and Financials (22%), Offering Fraud (15%), and
Manipulation (11%). Most whistleblowers, however,
