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CFTC Awards Whistleblower $1 Million

Whistleblower
January 7, 2020

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently announced a $1 million whistleblower award to a tipster who helped uncover Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) violations. Notably, the tipster first provided the information to another regulator before it reached to the CFTC.

CFTC Director of Enforcement James McDonald stated, “Today’s award shows how referrals from other regulators can have a meaningful impact on the Commission’s enforcement program, and lead to whistleblower awards from the CFTC. We are committed to continuing to work with other regulators to maximize the impact and effectiveness of our enforcement and whistleblower programs.”

CFTC Whistleblower Office Director Christopher Ehrman stated, “As the specific facts and circumstances of this matter demonstrate, the whistleblower does not have to identify the exact wrongdoing the CFTC ultimately charges—it is enough for their information to lead CFTC investigators directly to evidence of one or more of the agency’s claims. Here, the whistleblower identified a problem in one area, and our Division of Enforcement used that knowledge and the whistleblower’s subsequent assistance to uncover illegality in another.”

The CFTC’s Whistleblower Program was created in 2010 under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The CFTC has awarded about $100 million to whistleblowers over the past five years. Whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 10 and 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected.

Contact one of our Business Trial Group attorneys at 888-744-0142 if you believe you have information of securities-related fraud that you believe the CFTC (or other agencies, including the SEC) may be interested in prosecuting. We regularly help tipsters with the whistleblower process.

The Business Trial Group at Morgan & Morgan regularly battles against brokerage firms, investment advisory firms, and banks, and our attorneys have helped investors recover tens of millions of dollars of investment losses.

The Business Trial Group is part of the largest contingency law firm in the nation, which means that we will never charge hourly fees or expensive retainers. We are only paid if we successfully recover money for you.