McKessy: SEC Has $453 Million Fund For Awards of Whistleblower Bounties

The Securities and Exchange Commission has $453 million in a fund that will be used to award bounties under its new whistleblower bounty program, Sean McKessy, head of the new Whistleblower Office in the agency’s Enforcement Division, said July 13.

The whistleblower award fund comes from transfers from a Treasury account that holds SEC disgorgements and penalties. It is separate from the fund established to compensate victims of securities fraud, who will not be prejudiced because an award might be made to a whistleblower, McKessy emphasized in remarks made during a BNA webinar.

SEC Discretion.

Under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall ...