The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that Chief of the Office of the Whistleblower Jane Norberg will be stepping down this month after almost a decade of overseeing one of the nation’s most successful whistleblower programs.
According to the SEC, Norberg’s whistleblower office helped the Commission “bring successful enforcement actions that resulted in orders for more than USD3.1 billion in sanctions, including more than USD1.8 billion in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and interest, of which over USD760 million has been, or is scheduled to be, returned to harmed investors.”
Norberg has been with the Whistleblower Office since its inception in 2012, where she began her tenure as Deputy Chief. Norberg was named Chief of the Office in 2016.
“Jane Norberg has done a spectacular job running the SEC’s highly successful Whistleblower Office. She will be missed,” says whistleblower attorney Stephen M Kohn, partner at Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto.
“Under her leadership, the SEC developed a world-class whistleblower program that recovered billions of dollars by prosecuting fraudsters and creating a safe haven for whistleblowers to report crimes and earn rewards.”
The SEC also announced a USD2.5 million whistleblower award today, continuing another record-breaking year for the Office of the Whistleblower as monies awarded in FY 2021 now total over USD200 million.
Under the Dodd Frank Act, the SEC Whistleblower Program offers financial awards for claimants who provide original information of securities fraud. If the information provided results in the SEC bringing forth a successful enforcement action, the whistleblower can become eligible for awards ranging between 10-30 per cent of the sanctions collected if they exceed USD1 million.
“It has been a privilege to work side by side with the extraordinary and dedicated professionals at the Commission,” says Norberg. “In particular, the Office of the Whistleblower team is a powerhouse of talent and resolve. Their dedication to the mission of the Office is evident in the record-breaking numbers of awards the team has produced even under the burdens of the current pandemic. Being part of such a pivotal program has been an extraordinary honour.”
