Today, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced a whistleblower award totaling over $18 million to a whistleblower “who provided detailed information and assistance in a CFTC enforcement action and in a related action by another agency,” according to the CFTC’s press release.
Statement of Christopher Ehrman, former Director of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Office and partner at Phillips & Cohen, an international whistleblower law firm:
“This $18 million award shows not only the indispensable role that whistleblowers play in the CFTC’s enforcement actions and in protecting investors in the U.S. derivatives markets, but also the larger financial markets. The Commission’s award includes not only a covered action brought by the Commission, but also a related action by another, unnamed agency. The incentives for whistleblowers extend beyond just the CFTC’s jurisdiction, and allow whistleblowers to receive awards based on successful enforcement actions brought by other regulators based on the same information.”
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Under Mr. Ehrman’s leadership at the CFTC, successful enforcement actions based on information provided by whistleblowers resulted in monetary sanctions totaling more than $3 billion and whistleblower awards amounting to approximately $330 million.
Phillips & Cohen is the most successful law firm representing whistleblowers, with recoveries from cases totaling over $12.8 billion and 22 awards for clients under Dodd-Frank whistleblower reward programs. Mr. Ehrman joins other talented lawyers at P&C, including the former first head of the SEC Office of the Whistleblower, a former deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the author of a leading treatise on the False Claims Act, and numerous attorneys with decades of experience representing whistleblowers.