Reporting: SEC Violations
Know someone violating the SEC statute? You can report them with us:
The first step is always to protect yourself. Read our How to Protect Yourself guide.
Retaliation protections for Whistleblowers under the Dodd-Frank Act only apply once you’ve filed a report with the SEC. We recommend you consult with an attorney when you are thinking about filing a report.
Click here to learn more about SEC Whistleblower Protections.
About SEC Violations
Congress created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) whistleblower program as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Signed into law by President Obama in 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act is a wide-reaching statute developed and enacted in response to many of the issues that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action. Whistleblower awards can range from 10 to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million. In FY 2021 alone, the SEC paid out over $564M to 108 whistleblowers (an average payout of >$5M per whistleblower).
What violations qualify for the SEC Whistleblower Program?
A SEC whistleblower may report any violation of the federal securities laws that has occurred, is ongoing, or is about to occur. The reported misconduct may occur anywhere in the world. In most cases, SEC enforcement actions involve manipulative and deceptive practices associated with the purchase or sale of a security.
Beyond stocks and bonds, the federal securities laws have interpreted “security” broadly to include investment contracts, notes and other non-traditional investments such as crypto currencies and initial coin offerings. Some of the most common whistleblower reports in the past year were for manipulation, corporate disclosures and financial statements, offering fraud, and Initial Coin Offerings and cryptocurrencies.
Confidentiality for SEC whistleblowers:
As long as whistleblowers have retained a lawyer to represent them, they may report fraud anonymously. Their identities may remain unknown to the SEC until the payment of an award.
The Dodd-Frank Act directs the SEC to keep the identities of whistleblowers confidential and prohibits the SEC from releasing any information that might reveal a whistleblower’s identity.
“The Commission and any officer or employee of the Commission shall not disclose any information, including information provided by a whistleblower to the Commission, which could reasonably be expected to reveal the identity of a whistleblower . . . unless and until required to be disclosed to a defendant or respondent in connection with a public proceeding instituted by the Commission.”