SEC Whistleblower Program 2019 Annual Report

6th January 2020

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Whistleblower Program released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Annual Report (the “Report”) to Congress on November 15, 2019. According to the Report, the number of whistleblower reports and the total value of whistleblower awards continued at elevated levels during FY 2019 (which ended September 30, 2019) and has reached a “momentous milestone”. To date, the SEC has recovered over $2 billion in total monetary sanctions from its enforcement actions arising from whistleblower tips, including more than $1 billion in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and interests, of which it has or is scheduled to return almost $500 million to harmed investors.

Since the beginning of the whistleblower program, the SEC has awarded approximately $387 million to 67 individuals, and in FY 2019, the SEC awarded approximately $60 million in whistleblower awards to eight individuals, which included the third largest award ever in the program’s history. The report also indicated that in FY 2019, the SEC received over 5,200 tips, the second-largest number of tips received in a fiscal year and a 74 percent increase since the beginning of the program.

Click here for SEC’s 2019 Annual Report to Congress for Whistleblower Program