WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A compliance officer will be awarded between $1.4 million and $1.6 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission for providing information that assisted the agency in an enforcement action against the whistleblower's company. The officer had a reasonable basis to believe that disclosure to the SEC was necessary to prevent imminent misconduct from causing substantial financial harm to the company or investors, the agency said. The SEC didn't name the whistleblower or the company that was sanctioned. Since its inception in 2011, the SEC's whistleblower program has paid more than $50 million to 16 whistleblowers.