[__derek__]

This is why the SEC has a lucrative whistleblower program:

> The Commission is authorized by Congress to provide monetary awards to eligible individuals who come forward with high-quality original information that leads to a Commission enforcement action in which over $1,000,000 in sanctions is ordered. The range for awards is between 10% and 30% of the money collected.

[1]: https://www.sec.gov/whistleblower

[nico]

That doesn’t sound very appealing.

A lot of people in Wall Street, especially the ones with access to the kind of information to become a good whistleblower, make $500k+/year.

That means those people are actually very unlikely to want to tell on others, unless maybe they are already on their way out.

[__derek__]

This appears to assume that the whistleblower would have to leave the company afterward, which may not be justified given (a) the strong anti-retaliatory protections, (b) the highly-regulated nature of Wall Street, and (c) the nature of these settlements. Maybe they're shuffled off to the bench until retirement, though.

Again, I don't know anything, though. I just appreciate the game theory.

[DangitBobby]

Seems like they could blackmail the perp for 30-100% instead, or get it on it 50/50.

[__derek__]

I don't have direct experience, but the first option reminds me of regex ("now you have two problems"), and the second looks like a fragile coalition.

[DangitBobby]

I also don't have direct experience, but I would guess some of the same things that motivate someone to run afoul of the SEC would motivate someone else to conspire with them rather than "kill the golden goose."