An undisclosed whistleblower was awarded almost $279 million by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for help in an investigation that led to three different settlements or fines, the regulator announced Friday

The award is more than double the former record of $114 million in October 2020.

“The size of today’s award – the highest in our program’s history – not only incentivizes whistleblowers to come forward with accurate information about potential securities law violations, but also reflects the tremendous success of our whistleblower program,” Gurbir Grewal, the SEC’s enforcement chief, said in a statement.

In this case, the whistleblower’s information didn’t lead to the launch of an investigation, but it expanded “the scope of misconduct charged,” said Creola Kelly, chief of the regulator’s whistleblower office.

Neither the enforcement action nor the identities of the whistleblowers were disclosed — which is in line with agency policy. The program was established by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act to organize and provide incentives to tipsters.

Whistleblowers can receive between 10% to 30% of the amount collected in penalties in successful enforcement cases where fines exceed more than $1 million. The SEC has paid out over $1 billion in awards since the program’s inception.

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

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