IT'S A SATURDAY in a well-appointed room in a luxury hotel in a major American city and a man named Richard Overum has just escorted me from the lobby to brief me on my new identity. My directive: Embody a high roller. A man capable of signing a check for millions of dollars at a moment's notice. And, most important, a man looking to make an investment. I need to look perfect, Overum explains. Because tonight, I'll be shadowing him on a sting.
Richard Overum is not a member of law enforcement or a government official. He's something else: a rarefied practitioner in a line of work he's all but created for himself. He hunts businesspeople he suspects are breaking the law-a job that by virtue of oft-overlooked sections of federal law can end up paying remarkably well. Tucked into the Dodd-Frank Act, which Congress passed in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal and the economic calamity of the late noughties, are provisions meant to encourage people who spot signs of potential financial wrongdoing to come to the government with information. The incentive? If the agencies take enforcement action based on a tip resulting in sanctions in excess of $1 million, the law says, one or more whistle-blowers can earn an award equal to 10 to 30 per cent of what's collected.
Whistle-blower programmes were established at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to manage and investigate tips, and the calculus for awards depends on multiple factors, including the value of the information in making the case. But the payouts can be enormous. Recent cases have rewarded SEC whistle-blowers with $29 million, $38 million, and $104 million. Last year, the SEC cut its biggest cheque yet, issuing a payout of $279 million to one tipster who reportedly aided in a bribery case involving the Swedish telecom Ericsson that resulted in a more-than-billion-dollar settlement.
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