The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently released its Annual Report on the Whistleblower Program and Customer Education Initiatives for fiscal year (FY) 2019. The report, which details the operation of the whistleblower program and the CFTC’s initiatives to educate consumers about fraud or other violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), showed that during FY 2019, the CFTC awarded more than $15 million in five whistleblower awards. These whistleblowers had provided information that prompted the CFTC to open an investigation and/or provided substantial assistance to the CFTC during the course of the investigation. The report results serve as a reminder to energy companies to review and assess their compliance programs and policies to ensure that employees are encouraged to bring compliance concerns to management’s attention, and that such concerns are addressed in a timely manner.

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