SEC Whistleblower Claim Denied Based on Contradictory Staff Declarations

Andrew Delaney is seeking $10 million in damages, vacatur, and remand after the SEC denied his claim for a whistleblower award. The dispute begins in June 2017, when Delaney submitted whistleblower information to the SEC regarding Goldman Sachs accounts in Southeast Asia. Between October 2017 and February 2017, SEC staff communicated with with Delaney and requested additional information. In October 2020, the Department of Justice and the SEC entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with Goldman Sachs in connection with the 1MDB investigation. In September 2021, SEC attorney Eric Heining declared that the agency received no information from Delaney and that there had been no contact or communication with him. This was contradicted by a second declaration from SEC attorney Frank E. Correll, Jr. in April 2023, which stated that SEC staff had sent document requests to Goldman Sachs based on Delaney's information in October 2017. Despite these contradictory staff declarations, the SEC issued a Final Order in May 2023 denying the claim on the grounds that Delaney did not contribute and his information was duplicative. After his appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and a petition for certiorari were denied, Delaney filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas on April 13.