On Nov. 15, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of the Whistleblower issued its annual report for fiscal year 2022.1
The same day, the SEC announced its enforcement results for fiscal year 2022, which highlighted the Office of the Whistleblower as an "integral part" of the enforcement program and the whistleblower program as a critical tool in the SEC's enforcement arsenal.2
The SEC's fiscal year 2022 whistleblower report reveals that whistleblower tips remain an important source for SEC investigations and enforcement actions that companies and their counsel cannot ignore. Below are our top five takeaways from the report, including observations based on Jane Norberg's time as chief of the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower.
The SEC reported that it had received 12,322 whistleblower tips in fiscal year 2022.3 This was the largest number of tips received in any year in the history of the SEC's whistleblower program, which was established in 2011 following the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.4
During the two prior fiscal years, there had been dramatic increases in the number of tips received — from 5,212 in fiscal year 2019, to 6,911 in fiscal year 2020, to 12,210 in fiscal year 2021.5 Although the reason for the increasing number of tips was not clear, one possible explanation was that the prevalence of remote and hybrid working conditions made it easier for whistleblowers to gather evidence...
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