The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that it has awarded more than $22 million to a whistleblower whose detailed tip and extensive assistance helped the agency halt a well-hidden fraud at the company where the whistleblower worked.
The $22 million-plus award is the second-largest total the SEC has awarded a whistleblower. The largest, $30 million, was awarded in 2014.
Jane Norberg, acting chief of the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower, said in announcing the award that "company employees are in unique positions behind the scenes to unravel complex or deeply buried wrongdoing. Without this whistleblower's courage, information and assistance, it would have been extremely difficult for law enforcement to discover this securities fraud on its own."
Sean McKessy, chief of Office of the Whistleblower, left the agency in July.
The agency awarded $17 million to a Labaton Sucharow whistleblower client in June who the law firms says "provided high-quality information that led to sanctions against a major player in the financial markets."
The SEC's whistleblower program, launched in 2011, has surpassed $100 million in total money awarded.
