Washington, D.C. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced whistleblower awards totaling over $15 million to two whistleblowers who provided significant information and assistance that led the CFTC to bring separate successful enforcement actions. Because the whistleblowers immediately provided reliable information, the CFTC opened the respective investigations shortly after each whistleblower submitted a Form TCR. 

The recipient of one whistleblower award interpreted key evidence and helped the Division of Enforcement (DOE) staff identify new and productive lines of inquiry. This whistleblower pointed staff to the misconduct at issue in the resulting enforcement action and provided information that conserved CFTC resources.

The other award recipient, after providing the initial information that led to the opening of the investigation, provided a high degree of additional support to DOE staff; including interpreting key evidence for staff; facilitating the appearance of another witness to corroborate the violations; and providing a declaration in support of the matter. Notably, the whistleblower’s information led DOE staff to expand its analysis of the harm customers suffered as a result of the violations.

“These awards illustrate the success of our whistleblower program,” said Ian McGinley, Director of the Division of Enforcement. “The program incentivizes whistleblowers like these two to come forward with accurate information, including evidence of ongoing misconduct, to help protect market participants and hold wrongdoers accountable.”

“These whistleblowers provided sustained cooperation and support, which helped catch more misconduct and conserve CFTC resources,” said Whistleblower Office Acting Director Christina McGlosson. “Today’s awards show how whistleblowers can act as force multipliers for the CFTC’s enforcement efforts.”

About the CFTC’s Whistleblower Program

The Whistleblower Program was created under Section 748 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Since issuing its first award in 2014, the CFTC has granted whistleblower awards amounting to almost $350 million. Those awards are associated with enforcement actions that have resulted in monetary sanctions totaling more than $3 billion. The CFTC issues awards related not only to the agency’s enforcement actions, but also in connection with actions brought by other domestic or foreign regulators if certain conditions are met.

The Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) provides confidentiality protections for whistleblowers. Regardless of whether the CFTC grants an award, the CFTC will not disclose any information that could reasonably be expected to reveal a whistleblower’s identity, except in limited circumstances. Consistent with this confidentiality protection, the CFTC will not disclose the name of the enforcement action in which the whistleblower provided information or the exact dollar amount of the award granted.

Whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 10 and 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected. All whistleblower awards are paid from the CFTC’s Customer Protection Fund, which was established by Congress, and is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the CFTC by violators of the CEA. No money is taken or withheld from injured customers to fund the program.

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Anyone with information related to potential violations of the CEA or the CFTC’s rules and regulations can submit a tip electronically by filing a Form TCR (Tip, Complaint or Referral) online.

Go to Whistleblower.gov for more information about CFTC’s Whistleblower program.