Holder Seeking More Incentives for Wall St. Whistleblowers

Attorney General Eric Holder is seeking to increase incentives for Wall Street whistleblowers who report financial crime.

In a speech Wednesday at New York University, Holder asked Congress to raise a cap on the amount of money a whistleblower can receive for reporting misconduct.

The goal is to encourage more whistleblowers at financial firms to come forward. Holder says such witnesses are critical given the difficulty of developing evidence in financial fraud cases.

The whistleblower provision of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act caps whistleblower rewards at $1.6 million. Holder says that's a "paltry sum" in the industry and probably not enough to induce a whistleblower's cooperation.