On July 12, 2018, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued its largest whistleblower award ever, approximately $30 million, as part of its Dodd-Frank whistleblower program. This is the first award under the Trump Administration, and only the fifth award that the CFTC has issued since the inception of its whistleblower bounty program. Notably, this award dwarfs the next highest award of $10 million, which was awarded in April 2016.
The CFTC Chairman, J. Christopher Giancarlo, said in a press release that he “hope[s] that an award of this magnitude will incentivize whistleblowers to come forward with valuable information and provide notice to market participants that individuals are reporting quality information about violations of the Commodity Exchange Act.” (The CFTC’s press release can be accessed here.) As is the case with the CFTC’s prior awards, the Agency did not provide details about the whistleblower or the information that led to the enforcement action.
This $30 million award ties the third-highest award under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) whistleblower program, which made a $30 million award in September 2014.