The Role of Financial Rewards for Whistleblowers in the Fight Against Economic Crime
Project Completed (October 2023 - December 2024)
PROJECT TEAM
Eliza Lockhart
Royal United Services Institute
Contact: ElizaL@rusi.org
Eliza Lockhart is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI. Her research examines matters at the intersection of law, finance, and global security; with a particular focus on how evidence-based policy can promote democratic resilience and protect the rule of law against foreign interference. Eliza’s current projects include whistleblowing, state threats and economic security.
Eliza is a lawyer and legal policy expert. She previously worked in Australia for Linklaters and has experience with international financial crime investigations, whistleblower investigations and high-profile litigation. Prior to joining RUSI, Eliza was Associate to The Hon. Justice Kenny AM, a senior judge of the Federal Court of Australia and Chairperson of the Australian Electoral Commission.
Eliza holds a Master of Law and an MPhil in Public Policy, both with Distinction from the University of Cambridge.
PROJECT SUMMARY
There is growing international interest in the role played by whistleblowers in supporting wider strategies to combat economic crime. Recent high-profile scandals within the financial and professional services sectors have demonstrated the unique ability of insiders to provide the necessary evidence for regulators and law enforcement to successfully detect, investigate and prosecute these well-hidden crimes. Many countries have implemented reward programmes designed to incentivise whistleblowing across a range of illicit financial activities, including tax law violations, foreign bribery and corruption, securities and commodities malfeasance, cryptocurrency fraud, money laundering and sanctions evasion. The evidence from the North American programmes indicates that rewards have driven greater insider reporting, however, some jurisdictions remain opposed to their implementation, due to cultural norms against financially paying whistleblowers and concerns regarding their effectiveness and potential negative consequences.
This research analyses the impact of whistleblower reward programmes and scrutinises whether the concerns that have been raised regarding their implementation have eventuated in practice. Furthermore, it considers what factors have been shown to be necessary for such a scheme to operate as part of a wider strategy to increase the effectiveness of economic crime investigations and concludes with observations for policymakers considering the introduction of whistleblower rewards.
PUBLICATIONS
EVENTS
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A discussion on the impact of financial rewards for whistleblowers in the fight against economic crime. Watch the full recording HERE of the launch event for Eliza Lockhart’s research on the potential of whistleblower rewards schemes to enhance disruption and deterrence of economic crime.
MEDIA
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The Financial Times’, Suzi Ring and Martin Arnold features an exclusive of Eliza’s research into whistleblower reward schemes. The article outlines the research’s evidence in support of the UK adopting such a scheme and couples it with call from the UK’s Serious Fraud Office. Read the full article HERE.