ClickCease

What is a CFTC Whistleblower?

September 13, 2018

The CFTC Whistleblower program is an acronym for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower program.  The program is designed to provide whistleblower awards for the insiders or those with detailed information regarding violations of the Commodity Exchange Act.  The information must lead to the CFTC bringing a successful enforcement action.  As with other whistleblower programs, the CFTC has an anti-retaliation provision that prohibits taking action against someone who commences a CFTC action.  It is strongly recommended that someone considering commencing any qui tam lawsuit retain whistleblower counsel, particularly a CFTC whistleblower lawyer (like Brown, LLC – formerly JTB Law Group, LLC) to assist with navigation through the whistleblower process.

CFTC Covered Actions

A term of art in the CFTC whistleblower program is “Notices of Covered Actions.” A Notice of Covered Action refers to when the CFTC is successful with a settlement or judgment in excess of 1 million dollars in economic sanctions against a defendant.  One must vigilantly check the Notices, since if you submit a TCR, which is the form to file a CFTC whistleblower complaint, then you have 90 days from the Notice to apply for the award.

Commodity Exchange Act

The Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) is what regulates the trading of commodity futures.  You can read the full act here at 7 USC 1 – 27f.  Basically, there are many different ways in which futures can be the subject of a whistleblower action.  Insider Trading, pumping and dumping, blasting the news groups to manipulate the market, putting the interest of the company before the client to name a few.  Inherently, the nature of futures trading sounds sophisticated, and some of its designs are traps to separate the unwary from their money.  Further, in a complex system oftentimes individuals and companies find ways to corrupt if for their own economic benefit which is what the CFTC Whistleblower program seeks to remedy.

Speak with the Lawyers at Brown, LLC Today!

Over 100 million in judgments and settlements trials in state and federal courts. We fight for maximum damage and results.


CFTC Whistleblower vs. SEC Whistleblower

An SEC whistleblower is someone who provides information regarding a publicly traded company where generally the company is violating various SEC provisions.  The CFTC whistleblower program is limited to commodities and futures trading.

CFTC Final Orders and Award Determinations

It is important to review the CFTC Final Orders and Awards page to try and ascertain whether information you provided has been acted upon.  On August 2nd, 2018, The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced record breaking whistleblower awards totaling $45 million dollars. The CFTC pointed out the increased amounts reflect the “growing success of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Program, in particular the increasing volume and complexity of incoming whistleblower submission.”  Attached is a sample highly redacted order which you can view some whistleblowers received significant whistleblower awards and some had their requests denied.

CFTC Whistleblower Law Firm

Whistleblower Law is highly complex and always evolving.  There’s very stringent ways to file a whistleblower lawsuit and if you run afoul your case may automatically lose based on procedural technicalities.  If you have information regarding commodities or futures frauds, you should speak with a CFTC lawyer right away.  The lawyers at Brown, LLC protect CFTC whistleblowers and offer free confidential consultations and can speak with you after hours or during the weekend when its most convenient for you, but even if you don’t speak with our whistleblower law firm, you should consult with a whistleblower lawyer as soon as possible to protect your rights and to assist you in filing your CFTC claim.