Washington, DC, November 29, 2022 –The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a $20 million whistleblower award to a whistleblower represented by Phillips & Cohen LLP. The SEC does not reveal whistleblowers’ identities with very limited exceptions. Phillips & Cohen’s client has chosen to remain anonymous.
Phillips & Cohen’s client “played a crucial role in the ultimate success of the enforcement proceeding,” said the SEC said in a press release.
“My client played a key role in a successful SEC enforcement action despite the risks it posed to the whistleblower’s livelihood,” said Sean X. McKessy, a partner and attorney at Phillips & Cohen LLP and former head of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. “The whistleblower felt the need to come forward to help stop the improper conduct witnessed.” This is McKessy’s fourth client to receive a whistleblower award since leaving the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.
Phillips & Cohen has won 14 SEC and CFTC whistleblower awards for clients under programs established by the Dodd-Frank Act, including an SEC whistleblower award for $37 million in February 2022.
The SEC whistleblower program offers rewards, confidentiality, and protection from job retaliation. Whistleblower rewards are made in cases where monetary sanctions exceed $1 million. They range from 10% to 30% of the amount the government collects, based on certain factors, such as the value of the whistleblower’s information and the assistance the whistleblower and their attorneys provide in enforcement actions.