§165.3. Procedures for submitting original information. — Inbound Citations

(a) Provided that a whistleblower or whistleblowers comply with the requirements in §§ 165.3, 165.5 and 165.7, and pursuant to § 165.8, the Commission may grant an award based on the amount of monetary sanctions collected in a “Related Action” or “Related Actions”, where:

(i) The Department of Justice;

(ii) An appropriate department or agency of the Federal Government, acting within the scope of its jurisdiction;

(iii) A registered entity, registered futures association, or self-regulatory organization (as defined in section 3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a));

(iv) A State criminal or appropriate civil agency, acting within the scope of its jurisdiction; or

(v) A foreign futures authority; and

(2) The “Related Action” is based on the original information that the whistleblower voluntarily submitted to the Commission and led to a successful resolution of the Commission judicial or administrative action.

(3) The whistleblower reported original information through an entity's internal whistleblower, legal, or compliance procedures for reporting allegations of possible violations of law before or at the same time the whistleblower reported them to the Commission; the entity later provided the whistleblower's information to the Commission, or provided results of an audit or investigation initiated in whole or in part in response to information the whistleblower reported to the entity; and the information the entity provided to the Commission satisfies either paragraph (i)(1) or (2) of this section. Under this paragraph (i)(3), the whistleblower must also submit the same information to the Commission in accordance with the procedures set forth in § 165.3 within 180 days of providing it to the entity.

(1) Have voluntarily provided the Commission original information in the form and manner that the Commission requires in § 165.3;

(c) If the whistleblower provided the whistleblower's original information to the Commission anonymously pursuant to §§ 165.3 and 165.4 and:

(1) The whistleblower is making the whistleblower's claim for a whistleblower award on a disclosed basis, the whistleblower must disclose the whistleblower's identity on the Form WB-APP. The whistleblower's identity must be verified in a form and manner that is acceptable to the Commission prior to the payment of any award; or

(2) The whistleblower is making the whistleblower's claim for a whistleblower award on an anonymous basis, the whistleblower must be represented by counsel. The whistleblower must provide the whistleblower's counsel with a completed Form WB-APP that is signed by the whistleblower by no later than the date upon which the whistleblower's counsel submits to the Commission a copy of the Form WB-APP that does not disclose the whistleblower's identity and is signed solely by the whistleblower's counsel. In addition, the whistleblower's counsel must retain the signed original of the whistleblower's Form WB-APP in counsel's records. Upon request of the Commission staff, whistleblower's counsel must produce to the Commission the whistleblower's signed original WB-APP and the whistleblower's identity must be verified in a form and manner that is acceptable to the Commission prior to the payment of any award.

(b) A whistleblower may anonymously submit information to the Commission, however, the whistleblower must follow the procedures in § 165.3(c) for submitting original information anonymously. Such whistleblower who anonymously submits information to the Commission must also follow the procedures in § 165.7(c) in submitting to the Commission an application for a whistleblower award.

(5) Original information shall not lose its status as original information solely because the whistleblower submitted such information prior to October 24, 2011, provided such information was submitted after July 21, 2010, the date of enactment of the Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act of 2010. In order to be eligible for an award, a whistleblower who submits original information to the Commission after July 21, 2010, but prior to October 24, 2011, must comply with the procedure set forth in § 165.3(d).