Archive

Whistleblower Alleges Facebook Aided Wildlife Trafficking

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team According to a whistleblower, Facebook profited from the trafficking of endangered species and failed to stop criminal activity linking it to the illegal wildlife trade that allegedly took place on its platform. Facebook was displaying ads tied to unnamed “American corporations” on pages linked to traffickers known to trade in elephant ivory, rhino horn, bear claws, and tiger...

Thai Police Arrest Suspected Ring Leader of Wildlife Trafficking Syndicate

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Boonchai Bach, who is suspect of fueling Asia’s illegal wildlife trade for the better part of a decade, was arrested last week in connection with the smuggling of 14 rhino horns from Africa to Thailand. This arrest stemmed from the detention of a government official at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, along with a Chinese smuggler and a Vietnamese courier, transporting the...

Top-10 DOJ Environmental Fraud Settlements for 2017

Here is our look-back at the top-10 Department of Justice environmental fraud settlements for 2017.  Click here for a full chronological listing of all DOJ fraud settlements for 2017.

1. Volkswagen AG -- The German auto maker agreed to plead guilty to three criminal felony counts and pay a $2.8 billion criminal penalty as a result of the company’s long-running scheme to...

2017 Whistleblower of the Year Nominee -- Joel Clement

 By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This "Whistleblower Spotlight" features Joel Clement, a scientist and former director of the Interior Department’s Office of Policy Analysis, who was reassigned last summer to an Interior Department accounting office after blowing the whistle on climate change.  Clement believes he was retaliated against for speaking about the dangers climate change poses to Alaskan Native...

Smuggled King Cobras, Albino Turtles Intercepted by US Authorities

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California is handling the prosecution of 34-year-old Rodrigo Franco, who was arrested earlier this week on charges he illegally imported protected and dangerous animals into the United States in violation of federal anti-smuggling laws and the Endangered Species Act. The live animals, shipped from Hong Kong,...

Fraudsters of The Week -- Fred Witmer and Gary Jury, Indiana Executives Convicted of Biofuel Fraud

This week, a judge sentenced two biodiesel executives to several years in prison for defrauding the federal government’s renewable fuel support and tax credit programs. Fred Witmer and Gary Jury are the co-owners of Indiana-based Triton Energy LLC, a company that purported to produce and sell biofuel for use in transportation.  Instead, the two men used Triton to orchestrate a scheme to fraudulently produce...

Interview with 2016 Whistleblower of the Year LeeAnne Walters — Part II

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Here is Part II of our interview with Whistleblower Insider’s 2016 Whistleblower of the Year winner — LeeAnne Walters.  After seeing her own children poisoned by the lead in Flint’s water, Walters decided she had to take a stand.  Since then, Ms. Walters has worked tirelessly to draw attention to the public-health crisis in Flint.  Here is how Ms. Walters details...

Energy Department Whistleblower Finally Gets Justice

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Sandra Black did the right thing — and was fired.  As a highly rated and decorated employee-concerns manager at Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, Black was a channel for staffers to report safety, management and other issues at the nuclear storage complex in South Carolina.  But she found some of her reports were rejected by managers more interested in cover-ups.  She blew...

Volkswagen Pleads Guilty in Diesel Emissions Scandal

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Volkswagen pleaded guilty today to fraud, obstruction of justice and falsifying statements as part of a $4.3 billion settlement reached with the U.S. Justice Department in January over the automaker's diesel emissions scandal.  It comes as the automaker strives to put the most expensive ever auto industry scandal behind it. The September 2015 disclosure that VW intentionally...

Scientists Predict Volkswagen Emissions Fraud will have Life and Death Consequences

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team According to a report in the New York Times, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimate that 1,200 people in Europe will die prematurely -- each losing as much as a decade of life -- because of excess emissions resulting from the Volkswagen emissions scandal. And that is just from the 2.6 million affected cars sold in Germany alone. The full range of...