WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) -- Whistle-blowers who help U.S. regulators find Wall Street skullduggery could get as much as 30 percent of the money collected under rules announced Wednesday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a change advocated by President Barack Obama to encourage reports of wrongdoing in the financial world, The Washington Post reported. Under the rules, whistle-blowers could get anywhere from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected by the SEC, which could run into millions of dollars.
"For an agency with limited resources like the SEC, I believe it is critical to be able to leverage the resources of people who may have first-hand information about potential violations," SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro said in a statement.
The agency rejected a proposal by the financial industry to require whistle-blowers to report wrongdoing first to their companies before going to the SEC.
