https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/romerostatement103123"Statement of Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero In Support of the CFTC’s 2023 Annual Report on the Whistleblower Program and Customer Education Initiatives
October 31, 2023
As a former Inspector General who knows firsthand how important whistleblowers are, I wholeheartedly support whistleblowers and the CFTC’s Whistleblower Program, and am very proud of the Program’s outsized results. Cumulatively, the CFTC has awarded almost $350 million to whistleblowers, with more than $3 billion in enforcement sanctions ordered in cases associated with those awards. This includes $16 million in awards this year, including more than $15 million to two whistleblowers who provided significant information and assistance that led the CFTC to bring separate successful enforcement cases.
Whistleblowers are usually insiders who have worked or connected to the targeted organisation. They are mainly motivated by the financial gain they will derive if they leak vital information to law enforcement agencies. So it is not strange to see the Commodity Futures Trading Commission spending this much to settle whistleblowers. I hope the identity of these whistleblowers will not be leaked to the public someday which might put their lives in danger because there might also be moles in CFTC.
Whistleblowers play a vital role in supporting CFTC investigations related to fraud and other illegality. The CFTC could not fully protect customers and markets without whistleblowers. Whistleblowers help identify fraud and other illegality, interpret key evidence, and save considerable Commission resources and time. The faster we can stop fraud, the more we can protect customers from harm."
Whistleblowers don't just help reduce fraud and other criminal activities they also help these regulatory agencies make more money
. Binance has just been fined $4.3 billion, which means more money for the CFTC and greater pay for whistleblowers.
It turns out to be profitable to keep Whistleblowers!
I totally support the effort of these government agencies to purge the crypto space from criminals and scammers. The crypto sector will attract more investors if these evil players are pushed out of the industry. But the CFTC shouldn't use its powers to witchhunt genuine crypto businesses.