According to Reuters, the un-named former executive was awarded $22,437,800 from the SEC's whistelblower program, which encourages executives and former executives to report possible fraud and other violations to the agency.
The executive's lawyer confirmed on Tuesday the report, which is related to an event earlier in the year.
Monsanto was accused by the SEC of lacking sufficient internal controls when it accounted for rebates totaling millions of dollars which were offered to clients. Essentially, management would book a large amount of revenue but didn't account for the costs of the rebate programs in its financial books.
Monsanto did not admit nor did it deny any wrongdoings, but it did settle the case with the SEC and paid an $80 million penalty in February. Reuters noted that the company fully reserved the funds to pay for the penalty in fiscal 2015.
The SEC has now paid out more than $107 million to 33 different whistleblowers since the program was launched in 2011.
"Company employees are in unique positions behind-the-scenes to unravel complex or deeply buried wrongdoing. Without this whistleblower's courage, information, and assistance, it would have been extremely difficult for law enforcement to discover this securities fraud on its own," said Jane Norberg, Reuters quoted the Acting Chief of the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower as saying in a statement.
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