In its 2021 annual report to Congress on its whistleblower program, the Securities and Exchange Commission proudly touted its continuing success in encouraging and rewarding individuals for blowing the whistle on financial fraud. In its 10-year existence the SEC’s whistleblower program has recovered nearly $5 billion in actions that were initiated or assisted by whistleblower tips and paid over $1 billion in awards to those whistleblowers.
More than half of total whistleblower payments—over $500 million—were awarded last fiscal year alone, which is one of several trends indicating that the role of whistleblowers in securities law enforcement will continue to increase in the years to come.
A British science journalist-turned-attorney who initiated a lawsuit that saw a Harvard University-affiliated cancer centre pay $15 million (11 million) to settle claims of alleged data misreprese...