The Dodd Frank Whistleblower Program has been in effect for 18 months and thousands of tips have been pouring in from whistleblowers worldwide.
According to the Annual Report on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program published by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in November 2012, the agency received 3,001 whistleblower tips during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012. Approximately half of the tips pertained to three categories of allegations as the following chart illustrates:
Allegation Type Number of Tips % of Total Tips
Corporate Disclosure and Financials | 547 | 18.2% |
Offering Fraud | 465 | 15.5% |
Manipulation | 457 | 15.2% |
Subtotal- 3 allegation types | 1,469 | 48.9% |
Total Worldwide Tips | 3,001 | |
Also, while the SEC received tips from whistleblowers in all 50 states along with 49 countries outside theUnited States, more than a third of the tips were submitted from whistleblowers in just four states:
State Number of Tips % of Total Tips
California | 435 | 14.5% |
New York | 246 | 8.2% |
Florida | 202 | 6.7% |
Texas | 159 | 5.3% |
Subtotal- 4 states | 1,042 | 34.7% |
Total Worldwide Tips | 3,001 |
The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower (“OWB”) posts a Notice of Covered Action for each Commission enforcement action where a final judgment or order results in monetary sanctions exceeding $1 million. The OWB posted 143 Notices of Covered Action for enforcement judgments and orders during the year ended September 30, 2012 and the SEC reported that the OWB will continue to review and process applications for awards that were received during fiscal 2012.
When awards are issued, whistleblowers receive payment from the SEC Investor Protection Fund (“Fund”) established pursuant to Section 922 of the Dodd-Frank Act. At the end of fiscal 2012, the Fund’s balance was $453.4 million.
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