In January, 2012, Vincente Martinez became the first director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s new Whistleblower Office.

The Whistleblower Office, created by section 748 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), established a program under which the CFTC may pay awards to individuals who voluntarily provide original information about violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. In order to qualify for an award, the information that individuals provide must lead to a successful Commission enforcement action that results in monetary sanctions exceeding $1,000,000, or a related action.

Mr. Martinez joined the CFTC from the Securities and Exchange Commission, where he most recently served as an Assistant Director in the Division of Enforcement. While at the SEC, Mr. Martinez helped to establish and run the SEC’s Office of Market Intelligence, which handles the collection and analysis of tips, complaints and referrals from the public, government agencies and self-regulatory organizations.

Prior to joining the SEC, Mr. Martinez spent several years in private practice as a litigator and a corporate transactional attorney in Washington, DC and New York. Mr. Martinez is a graduate of Georgetown University and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.