Carson Block SEC Payout Mystery Deepens With Suit Outing Him

Carson Block seemed an unlikely candidate for a multimillion-dollar SEC whistleblower award in March, and not just because he was under Justice Department investigation for potential stock manipulation.

For starters, the information he provided the SEC in 2011 wasn’t confidential, but instead had been blasted to thousands through emails and social media in a report he made public before sending to investigators. Block, the CEO of short selling firm Muddy Waters Inc., didn’t submit the required whistleblower tip form until years after the deadline outlined in the whistleblower program law, and then only after the commission finished its investigation of the company his online report exposed.