On August 19, 2016, Eric Ben-Artzi, a former Deutsche Bank risk officer, stated he would not accept his portion of a $16.5 million whistleblower award from the SEC because the executives he contends were responsible for overvaluing certain portfolios at the bank were not being personally held accountable in the bank’s settlement with the SEC.  Ben-Artzi had provided information to the SEC, which led to a $55 million fine and settlement in 2015.

Ben-Artzi’s main criticism of the settlement and whistleblower award is that Deutsche Bank shareholders and rank-and-file employees bear the cost of paying such penalties.  He also accused the SEC of having too many connections to the bank through the “revolving door” between government and the industry.  Ben-Artzi noted that his ex-wife and attorneys may have claims on portions of the award.  He also stated that he would accept his portion if he was sure it came out of the pockets of the executives who he claims caused violations of the securities laws.

Here’s a Bloomberg article on the subject:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-19/deutsche-bank-whistle-blower-spurns-8-million-reward-from-sec