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SEC Tip Line Was Meant to Stop Another Madoff. Is It Working?

The headquarters building of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. — The headquarters building of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C.
Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg

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July 26, 2022, 8:46 AM UTC

An SEC whistleblower program designed to prevent another Bernie Madoff-type scandal often ignores its own rules, shields much of its work from the public, and has been a financial boon for law firms that hired former agency officials, a Bloomberg Law investigation has found.

Written into the Dodd-Frank financial reform law of 2010 and championed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), it was created to make sure tips about financial wrongdoing aren’t ignored as they were before Madoff’s $64.8 billion Ponzi scheme.