7/17/2019

OFFICE OF THE WHISTLEBLOWER APPROACH TO PROCESSING 

WHISTLEBLOWER AWARD CLAIMS

Whistleblower information regarding possible violations of the securities laws can have a 

significant and positive impact on the SEC’s ability to enforce the law. With the benefit of 

whistleblowers’ assistance, the Commission is better able to identify frauds and other violations, 

and often does so earlier than might otherwise have been possible. In this way, whistleblowers 

help the Commission minimize harm to investors, protect the integrity of the U.S. capital 

markets, and hold accountable those responsible for unlawful conduct. 

Congress has authorized the Commission to make monetary awards to whistleblowers who 

provide high-quality, original information that leads to a Commission enforcement action 

involving over $1,000,000 in ordered sanctions. By statute, the amount of whistleblower awards 

ranges between 10% and 30% of the money collected in the enforcement action. Since the 

inception of the program, the SEC has awarded hundreds of millions of dollars to dozens of 

individual whistleblowers.

The Commission’s Office of the Whistleblower (OWB) administers the agency’s whistleblower 

program. In addition to processing award claims, OWB carries out other responsibilities,

including responding to calls daily on a public whistleblower hotline and providing guidance on 

issues such as confidentiality and retaliation protections to investigative staff working with

whistleblowers.

Each year OWB seeks to process a significant number of whistleblower claims overall, while 

also fulfilling the program’s mandate to award whistleblowers with meritorious claims. This 

requires OWB to process a mix of likely meritorious and likely non-meritorious claims 

throughout the year, with the likely meritorious claims prioritized.

1 This statement describes

OWB’s two phases of claims processing: (1) the initial triage and prioritization of claims, and 

(2) substantive claims analysis and claim recommendation.

2

 

Phase One: Initial Triage and Prioritization for Substantive Analysis.

A top priority of the whistleblower program is to make awards for meritorious claims. To that 

end, the first phase of the process involves initial triage and prioritization of the claim for 

substantive analysis. To make an initial assessment of whether a claim is likely to result in an 

award, OWB reviews each award claim and considers, among other things, the information in 

the claimant’s application, any whistleblower tips submitted by the claimant that are related to 

the claim, and communications the claimant had, if any, with the Commission’s enforcement 

 1 This means that a later-filed likely meritorious claim may be considered before an earlier-filed but likely 

non-meritorious claim.

2 OWB processes claims but does not determine their disposition. Rather, consistent with the whistleblower 

rules, OWB makes recommendations for initial determination by the Claims Review Staff of claims and 

reconsideration requests, and notifies the Commission of each Proposed Final Determination.
2

staff responsible for investigating the underlying enforcement action.

After initial triage, OWB’s general practice is to initiate the substantive analysis of claims within 

each group (e.g., likely meritorious vs. likely non-meritorious) on a first-in, first-out basis. 

However, there are a number of factors that may cause OWB to undertake earlier (or later)

consideration of a claim. These factors, which may relate to the claimant, the claim itself, or our 

efforts to manage claims efficiently, include, among others:

• Claims that Appear Frivolous. In order to increase efficiencies and conserve resources, 

OWB may group together for consideration claims that appear frivolous or that are 

straightforward denials.

• No Collections. If there has been no collection of monetary sanctions in the underlying 

enforcement action, OWB may defer consideration of the relevant claims, even if a claim 

appears to be meritorious.

3

• Overlapping Facts. OWB may consider a later-filed claim that it views as likely 

meritorious in conjunction with an earlier-filed claim by the same claimant if there is 

significant factual overlap between the claims.

• Serious Health Concerns. If a claimant with a likely meritorious claim faces a lifethreatening or other serious health situation that is sufficiently documented, OWB may 

prioritize consideration of his or her claim. 

• Other Facts and Circumstances. OWB may depart from its general practices for other 

reasons if it believes the facts and circumstances of a particular claim warrant such a 

departure. 

Phase Two: Substantive Analysis and Claim Recommendation.

Once OWB begins the substantive analysis of an award claim, many factors can affect the time it 

takes to complete the process and prepare a recommendation for the Claims Review Staff or a 

notification for the Commission on the disposition of the claim. Such factors include, but are not 

limited to, the following:

• Multiple Claimants. Many enforcement actions generate multiple award claims. As a 

general matter, the more claimants that apply for awards on an enforcement action, the 

longer it takes to complete the analysis and processing of the claims.

4

 3 This is because absent collection of ordered sanctions, an award will not result in an actual payment to a 

successful claimant.

4 In some instances, we process all claims arising from an enforcement action together for two reasons. 

First, we process claims involving more than one potential award together to ensure that we weigh the contributions 

of the claimants in comparison to each other, and to ensure that the total of the awards arising from the enforcement 

action does not exceed the statutory maximum of 30% of ordered sanctions. Second, in some actions, it is more 
3

• Requests for Reconsideration. After receiving a Preliminary Determination of the 

Claims Review Staff, any claimant may request reconsideration, which may require 

OWB to address new factual and/or legal issues. 

• The Presence of Complex Legal Issues. If a claim presents a complex legal issue that 

requires consultation with other Commission offices, OWB will defer the processing of 

part or all of the claim until it has resolved the legal issue.

• Awaiting Information or Input from Others. The analysis of an award claim may 

require information and/or input from others, including the claimant or other government 

agencies. Progress on a claim may be delayed while OWB awaits a response from one or 

more of such persons. This is particularly common with claims involving a related 

action, in which OWB is dependent on another agency to provide information 

unavailable to the SEC. 

For questions concerning the SEC’s Whistleblower Program or information on how to submit a 

whistleblower tip to the Commission, please visit our website at www.sec.gov/whistleblower or 

call the public whistleblower hotline at 202-551-4790.

 

efficient to consider multiple claims filed in connection with an enforcement action together than to consider each 

separately. However, with respect to certain matters, where there appear to be straightforward denials, we may 

individually process those claims to gain efficiencies. 

This document is U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) property. It is not intended to, does not, 

and may not be relied upon to create any rights, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law by any 

party in any matter civil or criminal. Decisions about the assignment of award claims for processing, and 

about the completion of the processing of assigned award claims, are made based on the specific facts 

and circumstances presented.