(a) Provided that a whistleblower or whistleblowers comply with the requirements in §§165.3, 165.5 and 165.7, and pursuant to §165.8, the Commission may grant an award based on the amount of monetary sanctions collected in a “Related Action” or “Related Actions”, where:

(1) A “Related Action” is a judicial or administrative action that is brought by:

(i) The Department of Justice;

(ii) An appropriate department or agency of the Federal Government, acting within the scope of its jurisdiction;

(iii) A registered entity, registered futures association, or self-regulatory organization (as defined in section 3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a));

(iv) A State criminal or appropriate civil agency, acting within the scope of its jurisdiction; or

(v) A foreign futures authority; and

(2) The “Related Action” is based on the original information that the whistleblower voluntarily submitted to the Commission and led to a successful resolution of the Commission judicial or administrative action.

(b) The Commission will not make an award to a claimant for a final judgment in a Related Action if the claimant has already been granted an award by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for that same action pursuant to its whistleblower award program under section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.). If the SEC has previously denied an award to the claimant for a judgment in a Related Action, the whistleblower will be precluded from relitigating any issues before the Commission that the SEC resolved against the claimant as part of the award denial.

[82 FR 24500, May 30, 2017]