Washington, D.C. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it will award more than $6 million to a whistleblower who voluntarily provided original information that led the CFTC to bring a successful enforcement action. The CFTC opened its investigation upon receiving the whistleblower’s information, which was specific, credible and timely. With this award, the CFTC has now granted over $110 million in whistleblower awards since issuing its first award in 2014. 

“This award — together with the many that have preceded it — shows that in its short history, the Commission’s Whistleblower Program has significantly strengthened our enforcement program,” said CFTC Director of Enforcement James McDonald. “The contribution that whistleblowers have made cannot be overstated. To use just one data point, whistleblowers have led the CFTC to obtain nearly $900 million in monetary relief.  We are very grateful for the value that whistleblowers have added to our investigations and litigations.”

“Sizeable awards like this one should signal to potential whistleblowers that there are real financial incentives to promptly reporting violations to the CFTC,” added Whistleblower Office Director Christopher Ehrman.

About the CFTC’s Whistleblower Program

The CFTC’s Whistleblower Program was created under Section 748 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. 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 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 at https://whistleblower.gov/overview/submitatip.

To learn more about the CFTC’s Whistleblower Program, please visit the program’s website at https://www.whistleblower.gov/.