Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
Calculating and Allocating Awards
Before you go about contesting any preliminary determinations, it might help to understand how the SEC goes about calculating its whistleblower awards in the first place. In general, whistleblowers who meet all the requirements are eligible to receive 10%-30% of the monetary sanctions collected by the SEC and related government authorities. If an award involves multiple whistleblowers who are eligible for an award, then that 10%-30% amount gets divided between them.
There are multiple factors the SEC considers when determining the amount of an award, including the importance of the information provided; the assistance provided throughout the action; liability; whether there was an unreasonable delay in reporting; and any interference with internal compliance and/or reporting systems.
Although all of these factors have gotten attention in various awards granted by the SEC, the delay in reporting has gotten the most attention. As we mentioned in Part 3, the SEC is a stickler for timeliness, so don’t ever be late as long as you can avoid it. That said, the SEC has been lenient in some instances of delayed reporting, such as when a whistleblower witnessed only one or two instances and was not aware of the full extent of the fraud taking place. Continue reading ›