September 15, 2018
From reading the SEC's Proposed Rules, there is clearly a disconnect between what the Commission thinks Whistleblowers care about versus what Whistleblowers actually care about.
Furthermore, the SEC is making its job more difficult and less efficient by failing to properly inform and communicate with Whistleblowers.
For example:
1.) The SEC does not provide Whistleblowers with any estimated time frame for processing Whistleblower Tips or Award Applications. As a result, the SEC wastes time manually responding to numerous inquiries that could be more effectively addressed if the SEC simply posted average adjudication times online.
2.) The SEC provides zero guidance on how Whistleblowers should format their tips nor does the SEC provide any guidance on what information a Whistleblower should include in their Claim for an Award (and Form WB-APP is misleadingly short, meaning Whistleblowers may be led into a situation where they submit supplemental material after filing Form WB-APP).
As previously suggested, it would save the SEC thousands of hours if a more complete FAQ section is posted online that include items such as:
A.) Examples of how to format Whistleblower tips for common cases such as embezzlement, material misstatements, ponzi schemes, etc. (I personally have been told different things by different enforcement staff, some staff preferring to review all of the documents at once while other staff just want to read a quick 3-5 sentence description before deciding if further investigation is needed.)
B.) The Form WB-APP should be modified so that Whistleblowers have a specific section on the form to address each of the seven factors affecting an award determination. This would encourage Whistleblowers to submit information upfront and avoid additional resources expending to review supplemental information that is submitted later.
C.) The SEC should take additional measures to properly communicate with Whistleblowers, by properly guiding Whistleblowers I am sure that the SEC can significantly reduce the administrative burden required to address Whistleblowers concerns and questions and would reduce the frequency in which unplanned 'corner-cases' occur.