NY SEC Whistleblower Award
If you are aware of fraud or wrongdoing in a public company or securities/financial firm, you might qualify to receive an NY SEC whistleblower award.
To begin, you must divulge your information to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Properly doing so establishes you as an SEC whistleblower.
It is irrelevant whether you live in New York, the offense took place in New York, or the company or individual responsible resides in New York. This is because “New York” is simply a description to designate that the award is related to wrongdoing that is related to New York, or is granted to an SEC whistleblower who lives or works in New York.
What is important is that it is an SEC whistleblower award. An SEC whistleblower award is not granted by the State of New York or New York City. All NY SEC whistleblower awards, as well as all other SEC whistleblower rewards, are sanctioned under the Dodd-Frank Act and granted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
While the SEC has offices in many cities throughout the United States (including New York City), it is a Federal Agency, and thereby has jurisdiction across the Nation. So, where a whistleblower lives or works has no effect on whether they can qualify to receive an SEC whistleblower award. It also does not matter where in the U.S. the fraud or violation took place or the case is prosecuted.
In fact, under the SEC whistleblower program, SEC whistleblowers do not even have to be employees of the U.S. public companies or financial institutions they report on, U.S. citizens, or live in the United States.
If a whistleblower properly reports to the SEC, and it successfully obtains a result of over $1 million from a case that was brought due to a whistleblower’s tip, federal law requires that the SEC give an award to the eligible whistleblower(s) of between 10% - 30% of what it collected.
Other Requirements For An NY SEC Whistleblower Award
There are many rules and procedures that need to be followed to satisfy the SEC whistleblower requirements and to position someone to make a strong award application. Failure to comply with those requirements could result in the denial of an award or a reduction in the amount of the award.
Therefore, in practice it may be a good idea for a potential SEC whistleblower to consult with an experienced SEC whistleblower law firm, to ensure that he/she fully understands what it entails to be an SEC whistleblower, and what the SEC rules require of him or her.