The CFTC Whistleblower Program is in danger of being a victim of its own success. When the CFTC whistleblower rewards program was introduced, a fund was created to pay whistleblowers using the sanctions collected from whistleblower tips. However, this fund was capped at $100 million. Since the introduction of the program just over a decade ago, so many whistleblowers have come forward that this fund is almost out.
Urge Congress to save the CFTC Whistleblower Program from its ongoing funding crisis by passing the bipartisan CFTC Whistleblower Fund Improvement Act of 2023.
The CFTC Whistleblower Program has been an immense success. The CFTC reports that roughly 30% of all CFTC enforcement investigations stem from whistleblowers and that over $3 billion in sanctions have been collected thanks to whistleblowers. The agency has correspondingly awarded almost $350 million to qualified whistleblowers.
In recent years, the program has grown in ways unimaginable when it was established in 2010. In its first 18-months in existence, the CFTC Whistleblower Program received only 58 whistleblower tips. In the 2023 Fiscal Year by comparison, the program received a record 1,530 tips.
This remarkable growth has resulted in a funding crisis, however, as a Congressionally-set cap on the fund used to finance the program cannot accommodate the current size of the program. The Consumer Protection Fund is entirely funded by sanctions paid by fraudsters but is capped at $100 million. In recent years, the restrictive cap has caused the CFTC to delay the issuance of some whistleblower awards and raise the possibility of needing to furlough staff.
The bipartisan CFTC Whistleblower Fund Improvement Act of 2023 would save the CFTC Whistleblower Program by providing a long-term fix to the funding crisis at no cost to taxpayers. The bill simply raises the cap on the Consumer Protection Fund to $300 million.
The CFTC Whistleblower Program cannot be a victim of its own success. A simple technical fix can allow this much-need program to continue to flourish.
NWC’s Chairman of the Board Stephen M. Kohn recently wrote an article calling for the passage of the CFTC Whistleblower Fund Improvement Act:
The CFTC whistleblower program has been a remarkable success story. It demonstrates the transformative effect a well-run modern whistleblower award program can have on the enforcement efforts of a regulatory agency. The bipartisan Whistleblower Fund Improvement Act will ensure that the CFTC whistleblower program will not be a victim of its own success and can continue to help root out fraud in the U.S. derivatives markets.”
Please send this prewritten email template to your officials DEMANDING that they pass the CFTC Fund Improvement Act in order to increase the cap on the fund. This will ensure that whistleblowers may continue to get paid, and this program can continue to work. Check out more info here.
Recognized by the National Whistleblower Center (NWC), Tracie Burke is Louisiana author of motiontoquash.org. She can be reached at tracie@motiontoquash.org. Motion to Quash LLC successfully promoted legislation that supports the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 and amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act. Please Support journalism in the public interest by contributing today. Click here to donate Motion to Quash ISSN 2644-1594 is the copyrighted property of Motion to Quash LLC 2019. NWC’s mission is to support whistleblowers in their efforts to expose and help prosecute corruption and other wrongdoing around the world.
