The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has reportedly informed a whistleblower that he will be receiving the largest whistleblower reward ever awarded by the commission: a $30 million payday. Reported by Bloomberg News in February – and confirmed by the Forbes contributing writer who is the recipient of the award – the $30 million will be paid to Edward Siedle for his work in bringing to the government’s attention news of illegal actions taken by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. relating to conflicts of interest that were not sufficiently explained to investors.
The CFTC has not yet independently announced the award, although it had announced in December 2015 that it would be fining the bank $100 million for its actions, including $60 million in disgorgements and $40 million in penalties. CFTC whistleblowers typically receive between 10% and 30% of the government’s recovery, putting Seidle’s $30 million award at the high end of the range.
The $30 Million Reward Is On Top of a $48 Million SEC Award
Siedle had already been awarded $48 million by the SEC Whistleblower Office – the largest whistleblower award ever made by the office – based on similar information he provided to the SEC regarding the bank’s illegal actions. In that action, the SEC recovered $267 million from the bank.
The $30 million CFTC award is also the largest award ever made that agency, tripling the previous record of a $10 million whistleblower award in 2016. With a combined $78 million payout, it is clear that Siedle’s efforts in bringing the bank’s illegal actions to the attention of government regulators was well worth it.
Seidle Was Not a Company Insider
Notably, Siedle was not a company insider at the bank but rather a financial analyst who has focused his energies on pointing out mismanagement in the financial world that victimizes investors and pensioners.
The information that Siedle was able to discover about the bank’s prohibited practices, and which he relayed to the CFTC, led the agency to conclude that the bank had:
- “failed to fully disclose its preference for investing its client funds in certain commodity pools or exempt pools, namely hedge funds and mutual funds managed and operated by an affiliate and subsidiary of JP Morgan Chase & Co.”; and
- “failed to disclose its preference for investing its clients’ funds in third-party-managed hedge funds, each a commodity pool or exempt pool, that shared management and/or performance fees with a JPMCB affiliate.”
Siedle was apparently not the only whistleblower to seek out an award from the federal government related to the bank’s illegal actions, as an additional $13 million was paid to a separate whistleblower by the SEC last year in connection with the same underlying actions.
Additionally, Bloomberg reported that four other whistleblower applicants to the CFTC were not awarded whistleblower rewards because they failed to timely apply for the awards or did not sufficiently help in the investigation.
How to Obtain Your Own CFTC Whistleblower Award
At Kreindler and Associates, we work with whistleblowers to help them navigate the process of reporting information to the federal government while protecting their interests and identity in order to win the maximum award available. Even if you are not sure about the sufficiency of your information relating to commodities violations, we will work with you to determine whether you are eligible for an award, and, if so, be by your side every step of the way to work towards that award. To learn more about how Kreindler & Associates can help in your CFTC whistleblower matter, contact us today.
