Monthly Archives: September 2013
Whistleblowing at the Right Time for the SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of the Whistleblower rejected a claim for an award earlier in the summer because it was not “original” under the SEC’s whistleblower law. The claimant originally filed a report of accounting fraud in 2006. The SEC pursued the claim and a consent judgment for penalties, disgorgement and interest […]
Whistleblower from 2005 Wins His Job Back
Scott Teutscher worked for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Association (RSA) from 1999 until he was dismissed in 2005. Beginning in 2002, the Riverside Sheriff’s Association Legal Defense Trust covered the legal costs for Duane Winchell, a deputy sheriff, in a domestic relations proceeding. These legal expenses were outside of the trust document. Teutscher blew the […]
Citigroup Whistleblower Won’t Give Up
Whistleblower Richard M. Bowen III told The New York Times he plans to “leave this country better off than the way I found it.” He refuses to be muzzled about the financial fraud that led to the multibillion dollar taxpayer buyout of Citigroup. “There’s no question that Richard was censored,” says Steve Kardell, Bowen’s attorney […]
Retaliation for Whistleblowing to the FBI
With episodes of undercover FBI work, revelation of government bribery and retaliation by county officials, this whistleblowing story is one for Hollywood. Whistleblowing to the FBI Alessandro Salvo and his father operate G.S. Construction, which was awarded a 2011 contract to replace sidewalks along South Hairston Road in DeKalb County. Shortly after beginning work, the […]
Social Pressure Dampens the Success of Ghana’s Whistleblower Law
A farmer in Ghana admits that for years he concealed the corruption of a local public officer who works in his region of Ghana. The farmer is aware of the 2006 Ghana Whistleblower Act and knows that every Ghanaian has a civic duty to report illegal activity and corruption. However, he insists that the benefit […]
Two Employees Blow the Whistle on Warner Chilcott
Two former Warner Chilcott sales representatives, Lisa Alexander and James Goan, have blown the whistle with a bundle of allegations, including illegal marketing tricks, kickbacks and privacy violations. Federal laws and regulations restrict the way pharmaceutical companies market, sell and distribute their products, and the plaintiffs claim that Warner Chilcott simply trampled over them. Scope […]
Whistleblowers Are Taking Their Case to the U.S. Supreme Court
Jackie Lawson and Jonathan Zang believe that the 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals misinterpreted the law. They appealed the court’s decision in Lawson v. FMR LLC and filed a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s whistleblower provision was misread, resulting in the conclusion that the anti-retaliation protections do not reach […]
Texas Whistleblower Act Has Jurisdiction
A state employee sent an email to a superior declaring that if a particular contract were not honored, then the entire department would not be complying with federal regulation. After being fired, the employee sued under the Texas Whistleblower Act (TWA) and attached a copy of the email. The Texas Supreme Court dismissed the complaint […]
Whistleblowers Blow their Whistles While They Work
It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear. -Henry David Thoreau The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Pilgrim Pride Corp. reached a $50,000 settlement in a 2012 whistleblower case. The case began when a manager for water reclamation at Pilgrim Pride’s processing plant […]
2012: What a Year to Blow Your Whistle
Despite reports of a federal government crackdown on leaks and whistleblowers, a review of the amount of whistleblower settlements in 2012 will blow your mind. Across all business disciplines and governmental agencies, whistleblowing led to major settlements. Whistleblowing settlements across America Spanning the spectrum of American businesses, whistleblowers were awarded significant sums of money in […]
