Washington, D.C. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it awarded over $8 million to one insider whistleblower who provided significant information and assistance that led the CFTC and other agencies to bring multiple enforcement actions. The whistleblower helped the CFTC establish that one or more derivatives market participants deceived clients about key aspects of trades. 

“This is an important whistleblower whose information led multiple regulators to bring multiple enforcement actions,” said Director of Enforcement Ian McGinley. “The whistleblower’s assistance enabled the CFTC and other agencies to more efficiently investigate and prosecute the misconduct.”

“Based on the whistleblower’s involvement in the underlying conduct, the whistleblower provided extremely valuable insider information at a critical time during the investigations,” said Whistleblower Office Director Brian Young. 

The whistleblower provided direct evidence of not only the whistleblower’s own intent in the relevant transactions, but also the whistleblower’s knowledge and observations about clients, co-workers, and senior leadership at the liable entity or entities. This ultimately saved substantial time and resources for staff and resulted in a far stronger and more triable case in the event of litigation. 

Attorney Advisor Nina Liao of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Office handled this whistleblower award. 

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 approximately $380 million. Those awards are associated with enforcement actions that have resulted in monetary sanctions totaling more than $3.2 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.

Visit Whistleblower.gov for more information about the CFTC’s Whistleblower Program.