Chris Prentice

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A U.S. regulator gave a record-breaking reward of almost $200 million Thursday to a whistleblower for information in a case involving the rigging financial benchmarks. The agency and a lawyer involved in the award said.

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, (CFTC), announced the award Thursday in a statement but did not reveal the identity of the recipient nor the amount.

McInerney LLP and Kirby (NYSE:) McInerney LLP released a statement claiming that their client won a record-breaking bounty for providing detailed information and documents to the CFTC in 2012. These records were obtained after the client provided “catalyzed” investigation by the CFTC into benchmark manipulation.

Kirby’s lawyer did not respond when Kirby requested further information.

Authorities around the world have brought down multibillions of dollars in fines against bank and trader leaders for conspiring with others to manipulate global benchmarks. The most well-known example being the London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR).

U.S. lawmakers passed legislation recently to preserve the CFTC’s whistleblower programs. The Wall Street Journal reported that in May, the agency’s whistleblower programme was under threat due to an expected large payout to a former. Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: ) executives related to the $2.5 billion Libor Settlement.

A spokesperson from the CFTC refused to comment due to agency policy. Deutsche Bank (DE) declined to comment immediately upon being contacted.

The amount, the largest ever for any government whistleblower program, was “mind-blowing”, Erika Kelton, an attorney with Phillips & Cohen LLP who has represented several whistleblowers in the past, said in a statement.