The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) recently released its statutorily mandated 2023 Annual Report detailing the status of its whistleblower program for the fiscal year ending on September 20, 2023.

The CFTC’s whistleblower program pays awards to eligible whistleblowers who voluntarily provide original information about violations of the Commodity Exchange

Since 2015, the SEC has brought nearly two dozen enforcement actions for violations of the whistleblower protection rules under Rule 21F-17(a) against employers for actions taken to impede reporting to the SEC. The bulk of these actions have focused on language in employee-facing agreements that allegedly discouraged such reporting. The

On September 28, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California issued two separate orders in a long-running SOX whistleblower lawsuit.  Following a jury trial, the court upheld the jury’s $1.5 million damages award and awarded the plaintiff $2.4 million in attorneys’ fees.  Erhart v. BofI

On September 25, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board’s rejection of an employee’s Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) retaliation claim, holding the employee did not engage in protected activity because he failed to establish that he had an objective, reasonable

On September 19, 2023, the CFTC announced whistleblower awards totaling over $15 million to two whistleblowers who provided the CFTC with information that assisted the agency in bringing separate successful enforcement actions. 

One of the awards was awarded to a whistleblower who assisted with interpreting key evidence and identifying productive

A recent California district court addressed the question of whether, for insurance coverage purposes, a SOX whistleblower claim is a “securities claim,” and answered that question in the affirmative.   Skye Bioscience v. PartnerRe Ireland Insurance DAC, No. 23-cv-01218.

Section 1514A of SOX provides a cause of action for employees

On August 25, 2023, the SEC announced an award of more than $18 million to a whistleblower who first reported misconduct internally and subsequently provided information and assistance that led to a successful SEC enforcement action.  (The order granting the award can be accessed here.)

Creola Kelly, Chief of