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CFTC Whistleblower Program

CFTC Whistleblower Program

Agency overview
Formed	2010
Jurisdiction	Federal government of the United States
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Parent agency	Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Website	www.whistleblower.gov

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Whistleblower Program was created with the 2010 passage of the Dodd-Frank Act. The program rewards individuals who report possible Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) violations. The program also extends anti-retaliation protections for whistleblowers who file claims.

Whistleblowers who voluntarily report Commodity Exchange Act violations and whose information leads to a successful enforcement action that result in monetary sanctions exceeding $1,000,000. Awards to whistleblowers are paid out of the Congress-established CFTC Consumer Protection Fund. The Fund is financed by money seized by individuals who violated the Commodity Exchange Act. As of October 2021, the CFTC Whistleblower Program has awarded $300 million in whistleblower awards since it issued the first award in 2014.

History and Operations

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act was passed in 2010 after the 2008 Great Recession. The Act aimed to reinforce financial regulation and empower the CFTC's authority to oversee the swaps market. The Dodd-Frank Act amended the Commodity Exchange Act's with adding Section 23, named the "Commodity Whistleblower Incentives and Protection." Section 23 and the rules and regulations the CFTC has issued to implement the section's provisions govern the Whistleblower Program. The section also sets out the rules and procedures prospective whistleblowers must follow to obtain an award. The Whistleblower Rules went into effect in October of 2011 and were amended in July of 2017.

According to the CFTC's 2021 annual report to Congress, the agency doled out 6 whistleblower awards that totaled over $3 million in the 2020 fiscal year, which ranged from October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021. During the 2021 fiscal year, the CTFC Whistleblower Program issued 65 Final Orders addressing 74 whistleblower award applications and noted that numerous award recipients first made their disclosures to other agencies like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

All CFTC whistleblower awards are paid out of the Customer Protection Fund. On July 6, 2021, President Joe Biden signed emergency legislation into law that saved the CFTC Whistleblower Program from collapse. The program was on the brink of collapse because of a large whistleblower award that threatened to deplete the Customer Protection Fund. Thus, the emergency legislation addressed the crisis by creating a separate fund specifically for the CFTC's Office of the Whistleblower's operations. This new fund is separate from the fund out of which CFTC whistleblower awards are paid, ensuring that the Office of the Whistleblower can continue to function even if a whistleblower receives a large award.

The CFTC provides confidentiality and anti-retaliation protections to whistleblowers.

Notable Awards

Date	Award Amount	Description
5/20/2014	$240,000	First whistleblower award given out by the CFTC, provided "valuable information about violations of the Commodity Exchange Act."
4/4/2016	More than $10 million	Award for the "key original information" they provided.
7/12/2018	$30 million	Received award for their original information they provided to the agency.
7/16/2018	Over $70,000	First CFTC whistleblower award to a foreign whistleblower.
8/2/2018	More $45 million	Multiple whistleblowers received this award.
9/27/2019	$7 million	The whistleblower's disclosure led to the agency finding a CEA violation.
6/9/2020	More than $6 million	The whistleblower provided "specific, credible and timely" information to the agency.
7/27/2020	$9 million	Received this award for their disclosures.
10/21/2021	Nearly $200 million	The whistleblower's disclosures led to an enforcement action at the CFTC as well as actions by another U.S. regulator and a foreign regulator. This is the largest award to a single whistleblower in the program's history.

Violations

There are numerous violations on which individuals can blow the whistle to the CFTC. Below is a list of examples of violations that CFTC whistleblowers have blown the whistle on.

Filing a Whistleblower Complaint

Prospective CFTC whistleblowers should submit a Form TCR (Tip, Complaint, or Referral) after they identify a potential Commodity Exchange Act violation and they understand the anti-retaliation and confidentiality protections that the Whistleblower Rules offer. The CFTC Whistleblower Office will then confirm receipt in writing of the Form TCR and provide a confirmation number. The webpage states that because investigations are confidential, someone who submitted a Form TCR should not expect to receive updates on their complaint's status from the Whistleblower Office.

There are detailed requirements for prospective whistleblowers who want to make their disclosures anonymously. Whistleblowers can file anonymously with or without legal counsel; if a whistleblower who wishes to remain anonymous uses an attorney, the attorney can file the Form TCR to the CFTC on behalf of the whistleblower. However, when the agency decides to make a whistleblower award payment, the CFTC can require the whistleblower's attorney to confirm the whistleblower's identity.