WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. securities regulator is rethinking a proposal that could weaken a landmark whistleblower program after a pushback from whistleblower lawyers and advocates, people with knowledge of the deliberations told Reuters.
Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed reworking the program which allows the SEC to reward tipsters whose original information leads to a penalty exceeding $1 million with between 10% and 30% of the fine.
Created after the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, the program is widely considered a major success, resulting in more than $2 billion in penalties against firms such as JPMorgan and Bank of America and $387 million in rewards.