Amendment Of The Commodity Exchange Act
Section 748 amends the Commodity Exchange Act to create a whistleblower incentive program and whistleblower protection provision that are substantially similar to the SEC reward program and anti-retaliation provision contained in section 922.
Under section 748, the amount of a reward is determined by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and unlike section 922, a whistleblower may appeal any determination regarding an award, not just rewards outside of the 10 to 30 percent range. Protected conduct under Section 748 includes providing information to the CFTC in accordance with the whistleblower incentive provision and “assisting in any investigation or judicial or administrative action of the [CFTC] based upon or related to such information.”
On August 4, 2011, the CFTC approved its Final Rule implementing the whistleblower and bounty hunter provisions applicable to the Commodity Exchange Act under Section 748 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. The Final Rule establishes a “Commodity Whistleblower Incentives and Protection” program nearly identical to the whistleblower incentive and protection program created under Section 922 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which provides financial incentives for employees to report violations of federal securities laws.
Hat tip: An outstanding article that covers the law and final regulations in comprehensive fashion is Dodd-Frank and the SEC Final Rule: From Protected Employee To Bounty Hunter, ST001 ALI-ABA 1487 (July 28-30, 2011), which was written by Littler Mendelson, P.C. lawyers John S. Adler, Edward T. Ellis, Barbara E. Hoey, Gregory C. Keating, Kevin M. Kraham, Amy E. Mendenhall, Kenneth R. O’Brian, and Carole F. Wilder. This post is partially derived from that article.
