The SEC gives record-setting $30 million to whistleblower

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that it will award more than $30 million to a whistleblower. The reward will be its largest whistleblower award to date.

The individual in question "provided key original information that led to a successful SEC enforcement action," the SEC said in a statement. The reward will be the SEC's fourth award to a whistleblower in a foreign country.

"This whistleblower came to us with information about an ongoing fraud that would have been very difficult to detect," Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in a statement. "This record-breaking award sends a strong message about our commitment to whistleblowers and the value they bring to law enforcement."

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The whistleblower program rewards confidential sources for providing the SEC with information that results in action with sanctions greater than $1 million, according to the SEC. Whistleblowers can earn anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the money collected from an SEC case, thanks to Congress' investor protection fund, which collects sanctions from violators of securities laws.

Before the new award, the previous whistleblower award record was $14 million, announced last October. The SEC has awarded 14 whistleblowers so far, from the program's beginning in 2012 through 2014.