Washington, DC, December 19, 2025 – On September 4, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an award of $1.3 million to a whistleblower client of Phillips & Cohen LLP.
According to the SEC, the agency granted the whistleblower award because, “The Claimant voluntarily provided original information to the Commission that caused Commission staff to open the investigation that led to the Covered Action, and the Covered Action was based in part on conduct that was the subject of Claimant’s original information.”
Phillips & Cohen partners Erika Kelton and Emily Stabile represented the anonymous whistleblower. Phillips & Cohen has won the most SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) whistleblower awards for clients since the programs’ inception.
“We are pleased with the result of the SEC’s investigation and recognize that our client took great risks to come forward to the agency,” said Erika Kelton, a partner at Phillips & Cohen and the attorney with the most awards for her clients under the SEC and CFTC whistleblower programs.
“This award is well deserved,” said Emily Stabile, a partner with Phillips & Cohen. “I am proud to have represented the whistleblower.”
Congress created the SEC’s Whistleblower Program as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Under the SEC’s program rules, an individual who voluntarily provides original information that leads to an enforcement action resulting in over $1 million in monetary sanctions is entitled to receive an award between 10 to 30% of the money collected. SEC whistleblowers also are entitled to confidentiality and protection from job retaliation.
Phillips & Cohen represents whistleblowers in claims before the SEC Whistleblower Program, the CFTC and the Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Programs, as well as in False Claims Act lawsuits. Phillips & Cohen’s roster includes the founding Chief of the SEC Office of the Whistleblower, the former Director of the CFTC Whistleblower Office, the attorney with the most awards under the Dodd-Frank Act, and former government prosecutors and attorneys with decades of experience representing whistleblowers.