CFTC Whistleblower Program Paid $100M to Whistleblowers
The CFTC’s Annual Report on the Whistleblower Reward Program and Customer Education Initiatives reveals that whistleblower disclosures have become instrumental in the CFTC’s efforts to protect investors and promote market integrity. According to the report, the CFTC has paid $100 million to whistleblowers since the inception of the CFTC Whistleblower Reward Program, and enforcement actions associated with those rewards have resulted in sanctions orders totaling more than $800 million. In FY 2019, the CFTC paid more than $15 million to individuals who voluntarily provided original information or independent analyses that led to successful enforcement actions.
well as spoofing and other forms of disruptive trading or market manipulation.
CFTC Whistleblower Alerts
The CFTC Whistleblower Office has been very active in promoting its whistleblower reward program and educating the public about CFTC whistleblower rights and protections. During the reporting period, the Whistleblower Office published alerts on four trending enforcement topics:
Corrupt practices that alter the prices in commodity markets that drive U.S. derivatives prices
Bribes employed to secure business in connection with regulated activities like trading, advising, or dealing in swaps or derivatives, paid out of funds investors believed were being used to invest
Corrupt practices used to manipulate benchmarks that serve as the basis for related derivatives contracts, as prices that are the product of corruption might be falsely reported to benchmarks
Price manipulation (like pump-and-dump schemes) involving virtual currencies and other virtual assets
Pre-arranged or wash trading of virtual currencies, or swaps or futures contracts based on virtual currencies
Virtual currency futures or option contracts or swaps traded on an unregistered domestic platform or facility
Certain schemes involving virtual currencies marketed to retail customers by unregistered persons, such as off-exchange leveraged, margined, or financed commodity transactions with persons, even without direct evidence of fraud or manipulation
Supervision failures or fraudulent conduct (e.g., creating or reporting fictitious trading) by virtual currency exchanges
Qualifying for a CFTC Whistleblower Reward
Under the CFTC Whistleblower Reward Program, whistleblowers may be eligible for monetary rewards when they voluntarily provide the CFTC with original information about wrongdoing that leads the agency to bring a successful enforcement action resulting in monetary sanctions exceeding $1,000,000. Whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 10 percent and 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected. If represented by counsel, a whistleblower may submit a tip anonymously to the CFTC.
CFTC Whistleblower Lawyers
The CFTC whistleblower lawyers at Zuckerman Law have substantial experience representing corporate whistleblowers in whistleblower protection and whistleblower reward cases. Our team of attorneys includes a licensed Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner whose experience working at a large audit firm enhances the firm’s to investigate complex fraud schemes and prepare effective submissions to the CFTC. For a confidential consultation, click here or call us at (202) 930-5901 or (202) 262-8959.