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SEC Releases Annual Report on Whistleblower Program
Practical Law Legal Update 3-512-1788 (Approx. 4 pages)
SEC Releases Annual Report on Whistleblower Program
by PLC Corporate & Securities
| Published on 21 Nov 2011 • USA (National/Federal) |
The SEC has released its Annual Report on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program for fiscal year 2011.
The SEC has released its first Annual Report on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program for fiscal year 2011. The report covers whistleblower tip data for only a seven-week period, from the effectiveness of the SEC's final rules for the whistleblower program on August 12, 2011 until the end of the 2011 fiscal year on September 30, 2011. The report states that because of the small sample size of the data covered in the report, it is too early for the staff to identify specific trends or conclusions from the data. However, according to the report:
- Whistleblowers submitted 334 tips to the SEC during the 2011 fiscal year.
- The most common complaint categories were:
- market manipulation (16.2%);
- offering fraud (15.6%); and
- corporate disclosures and financial statements (15.3%).
- The SEC received whistleblower tips from 32 individuals in foreign countries.
- Because the 90-day application period for whistleblower awards has not yet passed, the SEC has not processed and paid any whistleblower awards during fiscal year 2011.
Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower must report annually to Congress on whistleblower complaints and its response to them.
To learn more about whistleblower protections, see Practice Notes, Whistleblower Protections under Sarbanes-Oxley and the Dodd-Frank Act and Summary of the Dodd-Frank Act: SEC Authority and Selected Securities Act and Exchange Act Provisions: Whistleblower Incentives and Protections.