The SEC announced today that it has awarded more than $300,000 to a whistleblower employee who reported wrongdoing to the SEC after the whistleblower's company failed to take action when the whistleblower reported it internally. The SEC noted that the award was the first the agency has made to a whistleblower who performed an audit or compliance function at a company. It is also the second award in less than a month in which the SEC emphasized that the whistleblower had first reported the misconduct internally at the company, but the company failed to address the issue.

 

The SEC stated that the whistleblower receiving the $300,000-plus award award reported his or her concerns "to appropriate personnel within the company, including a supervisor," but the company took no action within 120 days. The whistleblower then took the same information to the SEC, which ultimately led the SEC to bring an enforcement action.

 

Sean McKessy, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, noted that employees who are in the internal audit and compliance areas of a company are key players in the fight against fraud and corruption because "they often are privy to the very kinds of specific, timely, and credible information that can prevent an imminent fraud or stop an ongoing one.”

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