Former Deutsche Bank whistleblower awarded $200m record payout

An American regulator has handed a record-breaking award of almost $200 million to a former Deutsche Bank employee who raised the alarm about Libor-rigging, in the biggest-ever US whistleblower payout.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in a statement on Thursday, October 21, said the payment had been made for “specific, credible and timely original information” that “significantly contributed” to an already “open investigation” by authorities in the US and UK.

Reuters reports that a Law firm, Kirby McInerney LLP, said one of its clients received the record bounty after providing extensive information and documents in 2012 that “catalyzed” investigations by the CFTC and a foreign regulator into benchmark manipulation.

Two sources told Reuters the whistleblower had previously worked for Deutsche Bank. However, spokespeople for the German bank and for the CFTC declined to comment.