Eugene Ross v. SEC, No. 21-1165 (D.C. Cir. 2022)
Annotate this Case
Appellant appealed a United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) order denying his application for a whistleblower award resulting from a successful SEC enforcement action. He contends that he voluntarily provided original information to the SEC that led to the successful enforcement action as set forth by the governing statute, 15 U.S.C. Section 78u-6(b)(1), but that the Commission erroneously rejected his award application based on its improper definitions of key statutory terms, see 17 C.F.R. Section 240.21F-4(a) (defining “[v]oluntary submission of information”), (b) (defining “[o]riginal information”).
The DC Circuit affirmed the district court’s order denying Appellant's application for a whistleblower award. The court held that because Appellant failed to satisfy the statutory requirements for “original information,” the court need not address his challenge to the SEC’s definition of “voluntary.” The court reasoned that the SEC properly denied Appellant’s award application, which was based on information submitted to the Commission before July 21, 2010. Congress expressly and unambiguously excluded from the definition of “original information” submissions provided to the Commission before this date, the statute’s date of enactment. 15 U.S.C. Section 78u-7(b); see id. Section 78u-6(a)(3). Further, because Appellant failed to satisfy one of the statutory requirements for whistleblower award eligibility, the court did not address his challenge to the Commission’s interpretation of “voluntary” set forth in 17 C.F.R. Section 240.21F-4(a) or its denial of Appellant’s request to exempt him from the requirement that the information be submitted voluntarily.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.