The newly-released 2025 Annual Report to Congress from the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Whistleblower (SEC OWB) reveals that the agency granted awards in 31 Covered Actions and awarded a total of more than $60 million to 48 individual whistleblowers in fiscal year 2025. In addition, the OWB made 82 Preliminary Determinations recommending awards, according to the report.
That total award amount was down from fiscal year 2024 when the Commission awarded over $255 million to 47 individual whistleblowers — the third highest annual amount for the Program. The FY24 total included an award of approximately $98 million, split between two whistleblowers—the fifth largest award granted in the history of the Program.
The SEC OWB also received about 27,000 whistleblower tips in 2025, up from the approximately 24,980 tips received from whistleblowers in 2024, according to OWB’s report to Congress for fiscal year 2024.
One of the largest financial rewards in fiscal year 2025 – approximately $12 million – went to joint whistleblowers. The whistleblowers provided “significant information and extensive ongoing assistance that contributed to an expansion of the scope of the investigation and the charges,” according to the SEC.
Another set of joint whistleblowers received an award totaling more than $4.5 million for bringing to light their employer’s misrepresentations concerning an investment project.
Of the 27,000 whistleblower tips received in fiscal year 2025, the most common allegations reported by whistleblowers involved manipulation (28%), offering fraud (27%), corporate disclosures and financials (11%), and cryptocurrencies and crypto asset securities (7%).
As in previous years, the SEC OWB continued to receive tips from all over the world. In FY 2025, outside the United States, the countries from which the highest number of tips originated were Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and China.
In order to increase efficiency and clear out some of the Commission’s backlog, the OWB also issued 198 Preliminary Summary Dispositions in fiscal year 2025 and 114 Preliminary Determinations recommending denials. In addition, the OWB issued Final Orders denying awards to 275 individuals.
The Commission also permanently barred five claimants from participation in the Whistleblower Program. The Commission has the authority to permanently bar an individual from participation in the Program if the person submits three or more award claims that the Commission finds to be frivolous or lacking a connection between the claimant’s tips and the Covered Actions for which the claimant sought an award.
The Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2010, amended the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require the SEC to adopt securities whistleblower incentives and protections against retaliation. The Act directs the Commission to make monetary awards to individuals who voluntarily provide original information that leads to enforcement actions resulting in monetary sanctions over $1 million. The financial awards for providing a tip are from 10% to 30% of the monetary sanctions collected.
Numerous clients of Phillips & Cohen have successfully contributed tips to the SEC Whistleblower Program and received whistleblower awards, including in the last two fiscal years. In September 2025, the SEC announced an award of $1.3 million to a whistleblower client of Phillips & Cohen LLP and in 2024 the SEC announced an award of $3.7 million to a whistleblower client of Phillips & Cohen.
Phillips & Cohen is the most successful law firm representing whistleblowers, with recoveries from cases totaling over $13 billion. Phillips & Cohen clients have received 26 awards under the Dodd-Frank whistleblower reward programs. P&C’s roster includes the former first head of the SEC Office of the Whistleblower, Sean McKessy, the former Director of the Whistleblower Office of the CFTC, Christopher Ehrman, the attorney with the most awards under the Dodd-Frank whistleblower awards programs, Erika Kelton, and numerous attorneys with decades of experience representing whistleblowers under the SEC Whistleblower Program and other whistleblower programs.