The newly-implemented whistleblower provisions of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which provide for bounties for tips reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about securities violations, have already produced a wave of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) whistleblowers. FCPA violations are included within the violations for which a whistleblower may be eligible to obtain an award.1 Since Dodd-Frank was passed in July 2010, the SEC has received approximately one FCPA-related whistleblower tip per day.2 This pace can be expected to accelerate, particularly as the SEC builds the infrastructure to leverage such tips into more aggressive and effective enforcement. The SEC’s newly-opened Whistleblower Office and a $452 million Investor Protection Fund to pay awards—not to mention a prominent link on the SEC website to all of the forms a prospective whistleblower needs to report a tip and qualify for an award—have brought the whistleblower provisions fully to life.

The significant amount of activity generated by the whistleblower program in the FCPA context is no surprise. Under Dodd-Frank, whistleblowers can be awarded between 10 and 30 percent of monetary sanctions obtained by the SEC and criminal authorities in a related action, assuming the whistleblower’s information leads to an enforcement action with more than $1 million in fines.

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