SEC Issues Two Whistleblower Awards for High-Quality Information Regarding Overseas Conduct

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced two separate whistleblower awards for total payments of over $2.5 million. In the first order, a whistleblower was awarded over $1.8 million for taking both personal and professional risks in reporting information through the internal compliance system at a company. The tip revealed overseas conduct that would otherwise have been hard to detect. The whistleblower’s internal report resulted in an internal investigation at the company and a subsequent report of the findings to the SEC. The whistleblower also provided the information to the SEC. In the second order, a whistleblower was awarded $750,000 for reporting securities violations occurring abroad to the SEC, which caused the SEC staff to open an investigation that resulted in a successful enforcement action. The whistleblower also reported the concerns internally. “Misconduct occurring overseas can have a major impact on U.S.