Thread by @truth_eater

U.S. OFFICE OF THE WHISTLEBLOWER: How do you confront a billionaire who's stealing your money? What's it really like to be a Wall Street whistleblower? Inside the SEC's top-secret arm exposing the biggest financial violations in the world. My story @iimag: bit.ly/3qi5ec3

I went into this piece with so many questions, and the research process was quite challenging, because the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower is cloaked in secrecy. It does not give out whistleblower names or describe the cases it's working on -- so how to write about it?

To reach whistleblowers, I had to dig deep and reverse-engineer details from documents (many of them court cases, or corporate & government releases that let info slip out). I also had some excellent help from @kkcwhistleblower @LabatonSucharow and whistleblower @EdwardSiedle.

What I wanted to know, effectively, was: How hard is it to be a whistleblower? What are the obstacles? Can you be completely anonymous? How likely is it you will face serious backlash? What are the odds that you get a whistleblower award? And, very importantly, is it WORTH it?

You always hope to find some great stories when you embark on a piece where you (literally) don't know what you will find. But I certainly did not expect so many colorful accounts of undercover intrigue, brazen theft, legal battles, bad actors and Hollywood stars.

I also didn't realize that the SEC's whistleblower cash-for-tips program has doled out nearly $1 billion since its inception in 2010 -- with the size and number of awards increasing precipitously. Last October, a single whistleblower received a record payout of $114 million.

Stunningly, some undercover whistleblowers never leave the companies where they work, even after blowing the whistle and receiving a large award, but "choose to stay at their companies as secret millionaires" says Jordan A. Thomas, a whistleblower lawyer in New York.

“When the company doesn’t even know there’s a whistleblower, I think that’s really fun because if the whistleblower is still at the company, you can keep gathering information about the problem and then the shoe is really on the other foot," says David Colapinto @KKCWhistleblow.

Office of the Whistleblower data also fascinating: for instance, in last fiscal year, the largest number of whistleblower tips and complaints came from California, Pennsylvania, NY, Florida, and Texas — in that order. (Like, what's happening in Pennsylvania?...??)

One of Wall Street's most successful whistleblowers, @EdwardSiedle, a whistleblower lawyer and author, says, "What the SEC wants is smoking-gun information.” He's won $78M in government whistleblower awards, including $48M from SEC. His most recent book: amazon.com/How-Steal-Lot-…

“The reason I came out is because I want people to know you can do well by doing good,” @EdwardSiedle says. “The SEC is not going to tell anyone about you, so don’t get chatty...These days, the only way people are going to know you are blowing the whistle is if you tell.”

One of the bravest whistleblowers I met along the way, Eugene Ross, leads the story. He put everything on the line and his fate still hangs in the balance. Ross did what few dare to do -- accuse a billionaire hedge fund manager, face to face, of stealing -- and he was right.

@KKCWhistleblow @SEC_News @SDNYnews @DOJ_EOIR @USDOJ_Intl @IRSnews @IRS_CI
@EdwardSiedle @LabatonSucharow @StopFraud @AmericanGreed @HarryMarkopolos @SECreporter