Pump-and-Dump Whistleblowers Seeking SEC Awards Lose Appeal

Three whistleblowers who sought review of an SEC order denying them awards were rebuffed by a federal appeals panel that found they failed to provide key information on pump-and-dump schemes run by investor Barry Honig.

The tips provided by one petitioner were “not helpful because the Commission already had that information,” the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said Friday in a ruling by Judge Lavenski R. Smith.

Lee Pederson, John Amster, and Robert Heath challenged the Securities and Exchange Commission’s determination to award nearly a third of monetary sanctions from an enforcement action to Daniel Fisher, co-founder ...