The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has awarded about $3 million to a pair of whistleblowers who jointly alerted the agency to misconduct harming retail investors and assisted with an investigation that resulted in a successful enforcement action.

Announcing the settlement Monday, the SEC hailed the whistleblowers’ efforts to first report the misconduct internally, crediting them for promptly participating in their employer’s compliance system and also for suffering “hardships by raising concerns about the violation.”