MediaWiki:Mainpage

Welcome to the Whistleblower Wiki

Zuckerman Law’s Whistleblower Law Wiki provides an overview of the major laws providing rewards or incentives for whistleblowing and laws that protect whistleblowers against retaliation. The wiki includes links to key statutes, regulations, legislative history, articles, and other sources of information.

Zuckerman Law maintains this resource to help inform whistleblowers about their rights and navigate the complex weave of federal and state whistleblower laws. Matt Stock and Jason Zuckerman encourage readers to inform them of any errors or suggested updates.

Information on this wiki is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as or relied upon as legal advice. This wiki may be deemed attorney advertising. If you are seeking advice concerning a whistleblower reward or whistleblower retaliation matter, contact experienced counsel. Matt Stock and Jason Zuckerman are responsible for the content on this wiki.

SEC Whistleblower Program

Under the SEC Whistleblower Program, the SEC will issue awards to whistleblowers who provide original information that leads to enforcement actions with total monetary sanctions (penalties, disgorgement, and interest) in excess of $1 million. In exchange for the valuable information, a whistleblower may receive an award of between 10% and 30% of the total monetary sanctions collected.

In determining an award percentage, the SEC considers the particular facts and circumstances of each case. For example, positive factors that may increase an award percentage include the significance of the information, the level of assistance provided by the whistleblower and the whistleblower’s attorney, and the law enforcement interests at stake. On the other hand, negative factors that may decrease an award percentage include unreasonable delay in reporting the violation to the SEC and the culpability or involvement of the whistleblower in the violation.

Under the SEC Whistleblower Reward Program, whistleblowers can submit tips anonymously to the SEC through an attorney and be eligible for an award for exposing any material violation of the federal securities laws.

Contents:

CFTC Whistleblower Program

The CFTC Whistleblower Reward Program provides whistleblowers with a strong monetary incentive, as well as anti-retaliation protections, for reporting wrongdoing to the CFTC. This includes violations or fraud in connection with:

Commodity futures
Commodity options
Swap trading markets
Derivatives
Foreign corrupt practices

Approximately 65% of whistleblower cases filed at the CFTC involved charges of commodities fraud, market manipulation schemes, and spoofing. Whistleblower tips to CFTC have helped drive record-level enforcement activity.

Since 2014, the CFTC has issued more than $120 million in awards to whistleblowers. The largest CFTC whistleblower awards to date are $45 million, $30 million, and $10 million. Whistleblower disclosures have enabled the CFTC to recover nearly $1 billion.

Contents:

False Claims Act

The False Claims Act authorizes whistleblowers, also known as qui tam “relators,” to bring suits on behalf of the United States against the false claimant and obtain a portion of the recovery, otherwise known as a relator share. The phrase “qui tam” is short for qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso in hac parte sequitur, meaning “who [qui] sues in this matter for the king as well as [tam] for himself.” U.S. ex rel. Bogina v. Medline Indus., Inc., 809 F.3d 365, 368 (7th Cir. 2016).

The False Claims Act also protects whistleblowers from retaliation.

The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act have been enormously effective in enlisting private citizens to combat fraud against the government. Qui tam whistleblowers, also known as relators, have enabled the government to recover more than $60 billion.In fiscal year 2017 alone, qui tam actions brought by whistleblowers resulted in $3.4 billion in settlements and judgments, and the government paid $392 million in whistleblower awards to False Claims Act whistleblowers.

Contents:

IRS Whistleblower Reward Program

The IRS estimates that the United States loses more than [$450 billion] per year to tax evasion. To combat tax fraud, Congress enacted legislation providing robust incentives for whistleblowers to report tax fraud. Under 26 USC § 7623(b), the IRS is required to issue an award to tax whistleblowers of 15% to 30% of proceeds collected from tax fraud or tax underpayments if:

the whistleblower provides a tip that the IRS decides to take action on (a whistleblower cannot force the IRS to act on a tip);
the amount in dispute (the tax underpayment, including interest and penalties) exceeds $2 million (if the taxpayer is an individual, his or her gross income must exceed $200,000 for at least one of the tax years in question); and
the IRS collects tax underpayments resulting from the action (including any related actions).

In enacting the IRS whistleblower bounty legislation, Congress provided mandatory awards to tax whistleblowers for high-quality tips. Section 7623(b) suggests a focus on large-scale tax fraud in that Congress removed the previous cap of $10 million on IRS whistleblower awards. Thus, if a whistleblower meets the requirements above, the whistleblower may be able to receive a substantial payout.

On July 2, 2019, the Taxpayer First Act was signed into law. The law provides tax whistleblowers, among other things, significant protections against retaliation. Read more about the tax whistleblower protection law here.