How to Report Securities Fraud to the SEC: From What You Saw to What the SEC Can Test

To report securities fraud to the SEC, start with our whistleblower experts and the facts you know. We help connect that knowledge to a report the Securities and Exchange Commission can investigate and an award claim supported by your contribution. The substance is what you know: the sales booked in the wrong period, the fee investors never agreed to, the account statement that does not match the assets.

This page connects securities-fraud evidence to the SEC whistleblower program and its separate award process. If you are looking for an SEC whistleblower law firm, start with our whistleblower experts. As SEC whistleblower advocates, we work beside you and bring in SEC whistleblower counsel for the legal work.

What Is the SEC Whistleblower Program?

The SEC whistleblower program rewards eligible people whose voluntary, original information leads to successful securities enforcement. Congress created the program through Dodd-Frank, and the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower administers it.

An SEC whistleblower complaint gives the agency information about possible violations. It does not start a private SEC whistleblower lawsuit on the government’s behalf. A False Claims Act qui tam case has a different structure: it can pay a whistleblower 15% to 30% of what the government recovers.

The SEC’s whistleblower FAQ names conduct including false financial statements, misleading offerings, investor-fund theft, insider trading and market manipulation. It also includes bribery of foreign officials, and Form TCR names Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations. The useful question for an insider is how the records show the conduct: who made the representation, who handled the transaction and who knew the difference.

What Evidence Is Needed for Whistleblowing?

Useful securities-fraud evidence connects a specific representation or transaction to the records behind it. The SEC says specific, credible and timely information is more likely to reach investigative staff, particularly when it identifies participants, particular transactions or nonpublic evidence. We examine what you saw, how you learned it and what investigators could check.

Investor Promises and the Destination of the Money

In an offering, investors supply capital to an issuer or fund. The comparison is between the promised use of that money, the subscription records and the bank accounts where it went. A person involved in raising or moving the money may understand a transfer that the offering documents never explain.

In its case against Woodbridge Group of Companies, the SEC alleged that investors were promised returns from independent borrowers. The agency said that most borrowers lacked the income to pay and that new investor money funded earlier investors. If you handled those transfers, you could explain where the supposed returns came from. We see new money dressed up as a return.

Sales in the Books and Sales in the Business

Accounting evidence connects contracts and entries in the books to the results investors saw. A revenue figure carries more meaning when someone can explain which transaction produced it and why the business recorded it in that period. For estimates and valuations, the comparison includes assumptions and the reviews made at the time. If you know how the figure was chosen, your explanation can connect the public result to the decision inside the business.

Customer Recommendations and the Fees Taken

A brokerage recommendation can be compared with the customer’s profile, the product’s risk and the compensation attached to the sale. In investment management, the comparison runs from the management agreement and fee disclosures to actual charges and expense allocations.

For a financial fraud whistleblower who knows the accounts, the question can be very concrete: which charge did the customer authorize, and which charge came out? We connect the agreement to the debit so the allegation rests on the transaction itself.

Trading Instructions and Assets Held

Trading evidence can join order timestamps and cancellations to the instructions behind them. Custody evidence connects customer statements to confirmations and the authority to move assets. Those comparisons let an investigator examine what a trading pattern or account balance actually represents.

An insider whistleblower may know which system contains the relevant history and who can explain it. That knowledge matters alongside the records themselves, especially when a public filing or customer statement shows only the final result.

What Is SEC Form TCR?

SEC Form TCR is the agency’s form for tips, complaints and referrals, including whistleblower information about possible securities violations. It is part of the Tips, Complaints and Referrals system, and its questions reach beyond the suspected fraud itself.

The form asks about supporting material both in the reporter’s possession and elsewhere. That distinction matters to someone who knows where the evidence sits without holding every document. When filing an SEC whistleblower complaint, we and SEC whistleblower counsel address the submission requirements with you, including how an earlier report or new information affects the account.

Who Is Eligible for the SEC Whistleblower Program?

Individuals can qualify whether or not they work for the company they report. The SEC also says people do not need to reside or work in the United States to be eligible for an award. An informed outsider’s analysis can therefore matter alongside an employee’s firsthand knowledge.

The SEC whistleblower requirements focus on voluntary, original information that contributes to successful enforcement. Original information can come from independent knowledge or from analysis that reveals something important beyond what publicly available material says on its face. We examine the contribution your information makes and the evidence behind it.

The SEC whistleblower program rules also address your role and how the information reached you. For an auditor, compliance professional or officer, we work through those circumstances with SEC whistleblower counsel. Questions about privilege and earlier internal reporting receive the same individual attention.

Are SEC Whistleblower Complaints Public?

We address confidentiality and anonymous SEC reporting with you and SEC whistleblower counsel as part of your reporting plan. If you have already raised concerns internally, or have questions about retaliation, we work through those circumstances with you too. You can bring those questions to us along with what you know about the conduct.

What Happens to My Tip Once It Is Received by the SEC?

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division reviews tips, and its Office of Market Intelligence identifies information warranting further investigation. Staff can refer a report to an investigative team, send it to another SEC office with relevant expertise or forward it to staff already investigating the matter. Information can also prompt an examination or a review of securities filings.

The question of how to investigate a whistleblower complaint starts with something investigators can test. Your information may identify a new issue or add substantially to an existing investigation. A useful SEC whistleblower report explains the connection between the conduct, the people involved and the evidence.

The agency’s fiscal-year report gives SEC whistleblower examples that show both contributions. In one example, a whistleblower received an award of approximately $2 million after information opened an investigation into potential ongoing investment fraud. In another, joint whistleblowers supplied information and extensive assistance that expanded an investigation and its charges. Knowing where the next transaction, document or witness fits can matter even after investigators have begun their work.

Do SEC Whistleblowers Get a Fine Percentage?

Eligible SEC whistleblowers can receive an aggregate award of 10% to 30% of the qualifying monetary sanctions collected. The SEC action must result in an order of monetary sanctions exceeding $1 million. When several whistleblowers qualify in the same action, they share the aggregate award range.

The percentage applies to qualifying collections, rather than the investor’s loss or a company’s market value. The SEC determines eligibility and the award, and payment comes from its Investor Protection Fund. We assess the award opportunity with you as part of the matter, keeping the reporting contribution and the money it can support connected.

What Is the Difference Between an SEC Tip and an Award Claim?

An SEC tip supplies information about possible misconduct. An SEC whistleblower claim for an award is a separate application tied to an enforcement action. The SEC publishes Notices of Covered Action, and Form WB-APP is the award application. The tip, the award decision and the payment are separate parts of the program.

The award form connects the original report to the covered action and the whistleblower’s contribution. We stay involved through that connection with you and SEC whistleblower counsel, including the claim requirements and the evidence of what your information helped establish.

What If the Fraud Also Involves a Broker or Another Agency?

Reporting securities fraud and seeking repayment of an investment loss serve different purposes. If your concern begins with a broker who has not paid, we work with you to identify the transaction, the money owed and any evidence of a wider scheme.

Other government programs can also enter the picture, including those administered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Justice Department. We examine which whistleblower program fits the conduct and how overlapping matters affect the case.

Why the Person Who Knows the Business Matters

A study in the Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting found whistleblowing was the most common detection method in its fraud sample. Its comparison puts a concrete number behind the value of speaking up:

A separate 2019 working paper, Do Corporate Whistleblower Laws Deter Accounting Fraud?, available through MIT Sloan, examined firms exposed to state whistleblower laws through pension-fund ownership. It found lower accounting-fraud likelihood after exposure, with additional findings supporting deterrence from the federal SEC whistleblower provision.

The business knowledge remains the starting point for your report. You may be able to explain the contract term, fee calculation or trading instruction that connects an apparent discrepancy to a decision. We build from that explanation and the evidence that supports it.

Put Your Knowledge to Work

If you know why the books, trades or investor promises do not match what happened, speak with our whistleblower experts about the discrepancy. We work beside you to build your strongest SEC whistleblower case and bring in SEC whistleblower lawyers who understand the conduct you are reporting. From the initial decision to report through the award claim, you have a team focused on your case.