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The SEC Whistleblower Incentives Program

BY Kurt Wolfe
July 28, 2011

he U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) is implementing a new whistleblower incentives program required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act). Legal and compliance personnel at public companies, companies making non-public offerings, brokers and dealers, investment advisers, and mutual funds that have not yet familiarized themselves with the whistleblower program should take note: The rules are effective Aug. 12, 2011, and they significantly transform the whistleblower landscape. This article examines how the SEC plans to use the powerful new incentives to draw out would-be whistleblowers, and how it plans to sort through and make use of whistleblower complaints.

The SEC's New 'Securities Whistleblower Incentives Protection' Program

On May 25, the SEC adopted rules implementing the “Securities Whistleblower Incentives and Protection” program, codified in Section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (17 C.F.R. ” 240.21F-1to -17 (2011)). The rules offer people who supply the Commission high-quality tips regarding suspected violations of the federal securities laws a bounty of 10%-30% of all assessed sanctions that result from the tip. To qualify for a whistleblower bounty, a person must: 1) voluntarily come forward to the Commission; 2) with original information (a “tip” or “complaint”) about a suspected violation of the federal securities laws; 3) that leads to a successful judicial or administrative enforcement action brought by the SEC; 4) in which the SEC obtains monetary sanctions totaling more than $1 million.

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