U.S. SEC awards $5 million to tipster

U.S. SEC awards $5 million to tipster

(Reuters) – The top U.S. markets regulator on Friday announced a $5 million award to a whistleblower whose tip-off it said had resulted in a successful enforcement action.

The whistleblower not only provided helpful information but “substantial ongoing assistance,” Creola Kelly, head of the whistleblower office at the Securities and Exchange Commission, said in a statement.

Under sweeping reforms to securities laws known as Dodd-Frank and enacted following the 2008 global financial crisis, the SEC can reward whistleblowers with moneys drawn from a fund comprising monetary penalties collected by the agency.

The statement did not identify the subject or nature of the enforcement action as details are withheld to protect the whistleblower.

According to an order also released Friday, a second claimant also seeking a reward in the same case was denied a payout because officials found the information provided was “vague,” among other reasons.

According to the SEC, the 2022 fiscal year, which ended in September, the agency made 103 awards for a total of $229 million, marking the Commissions second-highest year by number of awards and dollar amount.

(Reporting by Douglas Gillison, Editing by William Maclean)