March 25, 2022
As a prior award recipient, I support this well-considered proposal. However, I was disappointed to see no further mention of the proposed discretionary award mechanism for actions that did not meet the minimum collections threshold, which was described in the previous rulemaking proposal. To the best of my recollection, no one objected to that proposal, there was at least one comment in favor, and then it was omitted from further discussion in the adopting release given the much higher profile of the other more contentious elements of the proposal, including the items corrected here. That is a shame: it was a good idea that would seemingly inexpensively motivate additional whistleblowers to come forward with information about smaller infractions, which collectively have a corrosive effect on the integrity of capital markets. It could also right the injustice of the occasional successful whistleblower-initiated enforcement action that did not result in significant collections due to the dissipation of ill-gotten funds.
Please consider devoting a moment in your adopting release to describing the status of this proposal. If you believe you lack the statutory authority to implement it within the whistleblower program or that a further rulemaking would be required, could such a mechanism perhaps be created within the operating budget of the Commission?
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.