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CFTC Whistleblower Program

The CFTC Whistleblower Program provides significant monetary incentives and employment protections to individuals who report misconduct such as market manipulation, spoofing, insider trading, cryptocurrency fraud, and fraud related to swaps, futures, or commodities.

The Whistleblower Program administered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) provides significant monetary incentives to individuals who report legal violations concerning commodities, swaps, futures, derivatives, traditional currencies, and cryptocurrencies–markets that have daily volumes in the trillions of dollars. Critically, the CFTC Whistleblower Program also provides significant protections for employee whistleblowers, including the ability to report anonymously if represented by an attorney.

Established under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Congress designed the CFTC Whistleblower Program to uncover misconduct such as market manipulation, spoofing, insider trading, cryptocurrency fraud, and fraud related to swaps, futures, or commodities. Oftentimes these violations are extraordinarily hard for law enforcement to detect. By empowering whistleblowers to come forward, the government can secure early, actionable intelligence that will ultimately maintain the integrity of the markets, protecting investors and the public at large.

Importantly, anyone can be a CFTC whistleblower—including employees, market participants, and even foreign nationals.

Like the SEC Whistleblower Program, CFTC whistleblowers may receive 10% to 30% of monies collected by the CFTC or related agencies if their tips lead to a successful enforcement action where total monetary sanctions exceed $1 million. Tips must be voluntary, original, and not already known to the Commission. There are various other eligibility requirements that our Whistleblower & Retaliation team can spell out in greater detail. 

Since issuing its first award in 2014, the CFTC has paid nearly $400 million to whistleblowers. Enforcement actions associated with those awards have resulted in the recovery of more than $3.2 billion from bad actors.

Sometimes multiple law enforcement and regulatory bodies collaborate on whistleblower tips that cross jurisdictional boundaries. The CFTC Whistleblower Program’s rules provide that if certain law enforcement agencies, like the Department of Justice or a foreign government’s financial regulator, bring a successful enforcement action based on a whistleblower’s submission, a whistleblower may be eligible for an additional award based on those “related actions.”

All whistleblower awards are paid from the CFTC Customer Protection Fund, which is financed through monetary sanctions paid by bad actors. To fund the program, no money is withheld from harmed investors or contributed by taxpayers. 

While many financial products neatly fall within the jurisdiction of the SEC or CFTC, some products straddle the line. And sometimes a financial fraud scheme involves multiple regulatory jurisdictions–for example, if a registered investment adviser (regulated by the SEC) commits a fraud related to both securities (like stocks and bonds) and commodities (like gold and silver). An experienced whistleblower attorney can help to identify the appropriate regulator for a whistleblower submission.

The Employee Whistleblower

The CFTC Whistleblower Program rules recognize the important role company insiders play in the detection and deterrence of financial fraud, and therefore include robust employment protections. 

As a gating principle, employers may not take any action to impede an individual’s direct communication with the Commission about possible violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. This includes asking an employee to sign, or threatening to enforce, a confidentiality agreement or arbitration agreement that aims to silence whistleblowers. More specifically, employers may not discharge, demote, suspend, harass, or in any way discriminate against an employee who reports suspected misconduct internally, directly to the Commission, or assists with the government’s investigation into wrongdoing.

Whistleblowers have substantial monetary remedies if their employer retaliates against them. Whistleblowers may be entitled to reinstatement, back pay with interest, compensatory damages, and reimbursement for litigation costs, including attorney’s fees. In addition to the whistleblower’s right to file an action in federal court, the CFTC also has authority to bring an enforcement action against the employer. 

Top CFTC Whistleblower Awards

  • In its largest award to a single whistleblower, in 2021, the CFTC announced a whistleblower award of nearly $200 million for providing specific, credible, and timely original information that significantly contributed to an ongoing action. The tips led to a successful enforcement action, as well as to the success of two related actions, by another U.S. regulator and a foreign regulator.
  • The CFTC announced in 2018 an aggregate award of $45 million to multiple whistleblowers for providing information relating to the manipulation of the ISDAFIX interest-rate benchmark. The whistleblowers’ tips helped the CFTC recover over $700 million in civil penalties from various institutions. 
  • In 2018, the Commission announced an award of approximately $30 million to a whistleblower who voluntarily provided original information that led to a successful enforcement action. This was the largest award made by the Program at that time.
  •  In 2023, the CFTC made an $18 million award to a single whistleblower who provided detailed information and assistance in a CFTC enforcement action and in a related action by another agency.
  • Two whistleblowers received awards totaling $15 million in 2023 for their assistance in the Commission’s enforcement action. According to the Commission, one whistleblower interpreted key evidence and helped the agency identify new lines of inquiry. The other provided information that led the agency to open the investigation along with significant additional support. 

Want to discuss your legal rights and potential financial rewards as a CFTC whistleblower?

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