The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received 3,001 tips and complaints following the creation of its Whistleblower Program one year ago. The statistics were made public yesterday in the SEC’s Annual Report on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program for Fiscal Year 2012.
According to the report, tips have come from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 49 countries. States with the highest percentage of tips include: California (17.4%), New York (9.8%), Florida (8.1%), Texas (6.3%), New Jersey (4.1%), Illinois (4%), and Pennsylvania(3.6%).
So far, the 3,000-plus tips are focused in three main areas: Corporate Disclosure and Financials (18.2%); Offering Fraud (15.5%); and Manipulation (15.2%).
The full report is available here.
This year, the SEC made its first award under the Whistleblower Program. On Aug. 21, 2012, a whistleblower who helped the SEC stop an ongoing multimillion dollar fraud received an award of 30% – the maximum percentage payout allowed by law.
In that case, the award recipient submitted a tip concerning the fraud and then provided documents and other significant information. The information ultimately resulted in a federal court ordering more than $1 million in sanctions.