On August 26, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted two amendments to the rules governing its whistleblower program. The first amendment expands the circumstances where the SEC can pay whistleblowers for their information and assistance in legal actions not brought by the commission. The second affirms the SEC’s authority to consider the amount of a payment for the limited purpose of increasing but not reducing it. Commission Chairman Gary Gensler’s statement supporting the amendments is available here. Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda opposed the amendments, and their statements are available here and here.
