In Brief: SEC giving $30 million whistleblower award

WASHINGTON – The Securities and Exchange Commission is giving its biggest award yet, about $30 million, to a whistleblower who provided key information that led to an enforcement action in a fraud case.

The agency announced the award Monday. It was the SEC’s 14th whistleblower award under a program adopted in 2011 and the fourth award to a whistleblower living in a foreign country. The nature of the enforcement action and the identity of the whistleblower weren’t disclosed.

The largest award previously was $14 million in October 2013.

Under the program, tipsters who report corporate fraud or other misconduct are eligible if they give the SEC information that leads to an enforcement action resulting in more than $1 million in penalties. They can receive from 10 to 30 percent of the money the SEC recovers from a company or person.

GM crash death toll rises to 21

DETROIT – The death toll from crashes involving General Motors small cars with faulty ignition switches is at least 21.

Attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who was hired by the company to compensate victims, said Monday in an Internet posting that he received 143 death claims as of Friday, and 21 of those have been deemed eligible for payments.

A spokeswoman said the rest of the claims are under review and not all will be eligible. The death toll rose from a week ago, when Feinberg had determined 19 claims would get payments. The website also said that Feinberg received 532 injury claims as of Friday. Of those, 16 are eligible for compensation thus far. The others are still being reviewed.

U.S. home sales fall in August

WASHINGTON – Fewer Americans bought homes in August, as investors retreated from real estate and first-time buyers remained scarce.

Sales of existing homes fell 1.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. That snaps a four-month streak of gains. August sales are down from a July rate of 5.14 million, a figure that was revised slightly downward.

Much of the decline came from the exodus of investors, who had been buying properties in the aftermath of the housing bust and recession. Investors accounted for just 12 percent of August purchases, compared to 17 percent a year earlier.

Overall, the pace of home sales has dropped 5.3 percent year-over-year.

The August figures show that real estate recovery has depended largely on investors and all-cash sales, instead of families looking to purchasing a house.

Apple sells 10 million iPhones

NEW YORK – Apple says it sold more than 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models, a record for a new model, in the three days after the phones went on sale.

A year ago, Apple Inc. said it had sold 9 million of the then-new iPhone 5C and 5S models.

Alibaba becomes largest IPO

Alibaba Holding Group’s IPO officially became the world’s largest ever on Monday.

Underwriters who helped make the Chinese e-commerce network a public company exercised an option to sell off some extra shares, bringing the total haul from the IPO to $25.03 billion, from $21.8 billion.

The sum surpasses the $22.1 billion raised by Agricultural Bank of China when it listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2010.

The additional sell-off pumps up the windfall for Alibaba founder Jack Ma and nudges Yahoo’s haul past $6 billion after taxes.