Yesterday, the SEC issued a stunning $17 million award to a former employee, whose “detailed tip” provided original information to SEC enforcement staff that “substantially advanced their investigation” into the whistleblower’s former employer.  The SEC specifically credited the “company insider” with allowing enforcement staff “to conserve time and resources in the investigation, and help[ing] staff to gather evidence supporting the [SEC’s] charges.”  Four other claimants who sought awards in conjunction with the same enforcement action saw their claims denied for failing to meet the standard of “voluntarily provid[ing] the Commission with original information that leads to” successful enforcement.

Given the significant protections afforded to whistleblowers, no other details of the incident were released.  For example, the terms of the award did not indicate whether the former employee made any effort to raise his or her concerns internally prior to becoming involved with the SEC.  Although the award is non-precedential because “whether original information leads to successful enforcement depends on an analysis of the facts and circumstances of each individual case,” its significance is hard to ignore.

The $17 million award—the second largest in the history of the SEC whistleblower program behind a $30 million award in 2014—represents an unspecified percentage of the total monetary sanctions to be collected as a result of the enforcement action.  The SEC’s announcement also revealed that, since the whistleblower program’s inception in 2011, the agency has awarded more than $85 million to 32 whistleblowers.  Such a significant award will only elevate further the profile of the SEC’s whistleblower program, and underscore the agency’s commitment to employ substantial incentives to induce current and/or former employees to report alleged employer misconduct.

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Photo of Lloyd B. Chinn Lloyd B. Chinn

Lloyd B. Chinn is a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Whistleblowing & Retaliation Group. He litigates employment disputes of all types before federal and state courts, arbitration tribunals (e.g., FINRA, JAMS and AAA), and before administrative…

Lloyd B. Chinn is a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Whistleblowing & Retaliation Group. He litigates employment disputes of all types before federal and state courts, arbitration tribunals (e.g., FINRA, JAMS and AAA), and before administrative agencies in New York and across the country. Lloyd’s practice ranges from litigating compensation disputes to defending whistleblower, discrimination and sexual harassment claims. Although he represents employers in a wide range of industries, including law, insurance, health care, consulting, media, education and technology, he focuses a substantial portion of his practice on the financial services sector. He has tried to final verdict or arbitration award substantial disputes in this area.

Due to Lloyd’s litigation experience, clients regularly turn to him for advice regarding the full range of employment matters, including terminations, whistleblower policy and procedure, reductions in force, employment agreements, and employment policies. For example, in the wake of the financial crisis, he has counseled a number of firms through reductions in force and related bonus and deferred compensation disputes. Lloyd has also been retained to conduct internal investigations of allegations of workplace misconduct, including claims leveled against senior executives.

Lloyd has represented global businesses in matters involving Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank whistleblower claims. He has taken an active role in the American Bar Association on these issues, currently serving as Co-Chair of the Whistleblower subcommittee of the ABA Employee Rights and Responsibilities Committee. Lloyd has spoken on whistleblowing topics before a numerous organizations, including the American Bar Association, ALI-ABA, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and New York University School of Law. He has testified twice before Congressional subcommittees regarding whistleblower legislation and has also published blog postings, articles and client alerts on a variety of topics in this area, including the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower provisions. Lloyd is a co-editor of Proskauer’s Whistleblower Defense Blog, and he has been widely quoted by on whistleblower topics by a number of publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the National Law Journal and Law 360.

Lloyd has also become active in the International Bar Association, presenting on a variety of subjects, including: the #MeToo movement, the COVID-19 pandemic and employment law, and cross-border harmonization of employment provisions in transactions. Lloyd also hosts a quarterly roundtable discussion among financial services industry in-house employment lawyers. He has also published articles and given speeches on a variety of other employment-law topics, including non-solicitation provisions, FINRA arbitration rules, cross-border discovery, e-discovery, and the use of experts.