三名美国银行爆料者将分享8300万美元举报奖金

Three Bank of America whistleblowers who tipped off US authorities about misconduct at its broker-dealer arm Merrill Lynch are to share a record $83m in awards, according to the law firm that represents them. *

据代表三名美国银行(Bank of America)爆料者的律所介绍，这三名向美国监管机构举报美国银行旗下经纪自营业务美银美林(Bank of America Merrill Lynch)存在不当行为的人士，将合计获得创纪录的8300万美元奖金。

Information provided by the trio led the Securities and Exchange Commission to extract $415m from Merrill alMost two years ago over the group’s failure to separate client money from its own, putting customer assets at risk.

依据这三人提供的信息，美国证交会(SEC)在将近两年前以美银美林未能将客户资金与自有资金隔离开来、把客户资产置于风险之中为由，对美银美林处以4.15亿美元罚款。

The SEC said on Monday it had awarded nearly $50m to two individuals and $33m to a third. The regulator did not disclose their identities nor the information they provided.

周一美国证交会表示，它已奖励其中两人近5000万美元，奖励另一人3300万美元。美国证交会未透露三人身份以及他们提供的信息。

Jordan Thomas, attorney with Labaton Sucharow, said the three individuals were his clients who had provided information about the Merrill Lynch case.

律师事务所Labaton Sucharow的律师乔丹?托马斯(Jordan Thomas)表示，为美银美林案提供了信息的三人是他的客户。

He declined to identify them but said they worked at a “senior” level. A “substantial part” of the total sums awarded would be donated to charity, he added.

托马斯拒绝透露这三人身份，但他表示他们担任“高层”职位。他还补充称，奖金的“很大一部分”将捐赠给慈善机构。

Anonymity afforded by the SEC had allowed his clients to live “ordinary lives” and he expected them to be able to continue to work on Wall Street. Even Merrill Lynch was not aware of their identities, Mr Thomas added.

美国证交会确保了爆料者身份不为外人所知，这让他的客户可以过上“正常的生活”，他预计他的客户能够继续在华尔街工作。托马斯补充道，就连美银美林也不知道他们的身份。

“Without my clients it’s unlikely the SEC would have even known about the wrongdoing,” he said.

“没有我的客户，美国证交会甚至都不太可能知道这些不当行为的有关情况，”他说。