The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced last week that it paid out over $3 million to a whistleblower. The payment marks the third highest award since the inception of the Office of the Whistleblower, which was established to administer the SEC’s whistleblower program in 2011. According to the SEC press release the “whistleblower’s specific and detailed information comprehensively laid out the fraudulent scheme which otherwise would have been very difficult for investigators to detect.”

As part of its 2015 Examination Priorities the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) included “examining matters of importance to retail investors and investors saving for retirement” to its initiatives. Based on this priority, the Retirement-Targeted Industry Reviews and Examinations (“ReTIRE”) Initiative has been created under which examinations of SEC-registered investment advisers and broker-dealers (collectively, “registrants”) will take place. OCIE will administer the examinations through the National Examination Program (“NEP”).

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has charged a Wisconsin-based investment advisory firm and its owner with “cherry-picking.” Mark P. Welhouse of Welhouse and Associates, Inc. (“Welhouse”) has been accused of placing more favorable trades in his personal and business accounts while allocating less favorable ones to his clients. This is the first case resulting from the SEC’s data-driven initiative.