One US state has more finance whistleblowers than any other

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whistleblower

REUTERS/Nir Elias

A protest leader blows his whistle during a Bangkok event.

What's going on in the Golden State?

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The Securities and Exchange Commission just published its annual report on whistleblowers, and disclosed that California generated 646 tips to the federal agency.

That's more than double the number of tips generated in New York (261), the state with the second-highest number of whistleblowers.

The SEC received a total of 3,932 tips during fiscal 2015, up slightly from 3,620 over the same time last year.

Among the more common tips: financial disclosure and reporting violations, offering fraud, manipulation and - of course - insider trading.

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It was also a record year for payouts from the SEC: the agency paid more than $37 million out to tipsters during the fiscal year, it said in the report.

Since 2011, when the Dodd-Frank Act created the SEC's whistleblower program, the agency has rewarded tipsters with $54 million, the report says.

Still, the agency's tracking of fraud complaints coming from California is staggering put in context of what the SEC hears from other US states.

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SEC.gov

California tipsters far and away reported the most potential violations to the SEC, its data show.