On May 6th, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
("CFTC") announced that it made a whistleblower award of approximately $1.5
million to an individual whistleblower. The individual provided
information that assisted in the successful prosecution of a CFTC
action and a related action brought by another federal regulator.
In particular, the CFTC recognized that the whistleblower initially
sought to report his or her concerns internally prior to reporting
to the CFTC, and it enhanced the individual's award as an
incentive.
In making the announcement, the Director of CFTC's
Whistleblower Office Christopher Ehrman explained, "While
there is no requirement that a whistleblower report internally
before approaching the Commission, today's award demonstrates
that the Commission may pay enhanced awards to those that do
– that is one of the positive factors set out in our rules
for the Commission to consider in making its award
determination." Furthermore, the CFTC
