Whistleblower Insider Blog

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- August 14, 2015

Posted 08/14/15

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Nine banks settle charges of Forex rigging for $2 billion – HSBC, Barclays, JP Morgan, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, RBS, and UBS have agreed to settle charges that traders used chat rooms and instant messaging to manipulate foreign currency prices. BBC U.S. authorities seizing $1 billion in bribery investigation – Authorities are attempting to seize assets...

Whistleblower Spotlight -- Hanford Whistleblower Dr. Walter Tamosaitis

Posted 08/13/15

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This week's Whistleblower Spotlight features Hanford whistleblower Dr. Walter Tamosaitis, who blew the whistle on shaky clean up plans at Hanford nuclear site in Washington. Dr. Tamosaitis was designing a way to immobilize millions of gallons of toxic and radioactive liquid waste when he discovered the Energy Department’s plans to treat the waste were extremely unsafe. He...

Tagged in: Environmental Fraud, Whistleblower Spotlight and Interviews,

In Their Own Words — Sheridan

Posted 08/13/15

-- “This settlement sends a message to whistleblowers everywhere that integrity and truth are worth fighting for, and that you can win if you don’t give up.”

Walter Tamosaitis’ attorney Jack Sheridan commenting on his client’s settlement with AECOM Technology following five years of litigation over allegations that Walter was retaliated against for raising safety concerns about his employer’s cleanup...

Tagged in: In Their Own Words,

Whistleblower News From The Inside — August 13, 2015

Posted 08/13/15

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Hanford whistleblower settles for $4.1 million – Government contractor AECOM Technology will pay whistleblower Walter Tamosaitis $4.1 million to settle allegations he was retaliated against for raising safety concerns about the company’s Hanford nuclear-weapons cleanup project. Wall Street Journal Air Force seeks contractor to monitor “inside threats” – Air...

In Their Own Words -- Schwartz

Posted 08/12/15

-- “When we think of hackers who try to profit from their crimes, we usually think about people who steal bank account information or sell sensitive personally identifying information…the reality, as exemplified by today’s charges, is that hackers can obtain access to all sorts of valuable information and can and will profit off of it in every way imaginable.”

Matthew L. Schwartz, former federal prosecutor...

Tagged in: In Their Own Words,

SEC Enforcement Spotlight – 32 charged in international scheme to trade on hacked news releases

Posted 08/12/15

On August 11^th, the SEC announced the filing of fraud charges against 32 defendants for taking part in an international scheme to profit from stolen non-public corporate earnings announcements. See SEC Press Release The SEC’s complaint alleges that over a five-year period, two Ukrainian men, Ivan Turchynov and Oleksandr Ieremenko, used advanced techniques to hack into two or more newswire services and steal...

Tagged in: Cybersecurity and Data Breaches, Securities Fraud,

Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce's love/hate relationship with public-private partnerships

Posted 08/12/15

By Tim McCormack and Molly Knobler (published in The Hill) Last month, bucking a national trend of increased use of state False Claims Acts to pursue fraudulent Medicaid billing, the Wisconsin legislature with “no hearings or even public discussion” repealed Wisconsin’s False Claims Act. The Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce has previously called for such a repeal arguing that rather than allow “private...

Tagged in: FCA State,

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- August 12, 2015

Posted 08/12/15

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Nine charged in largest known computer hacking and securities fraud scheme -- Nine people were charged with devising an international scheme to hack into business newswires and steal yet-to-be published press releases containing non-public financial information that was then used to make trades, reaping dozens of hackers and traders more than $100 million in illegal proceeds.

Moving Beyond The "Ag" In "Ag-Gag" -- The Next Wave Of Anti-Whistleblower Legislation?

Posted 08/11/15

By Molly Knobler and Gordon Schnell (published in Huffington Post) Under the mighty Ag-Gag umbrella, what goes on inside the factory farm stays in the factory farm. No matter the abuse or misconduct. There has been success in some states in shutting down this anti-whistleblower charge. In fact, just this week a federal judge struck down Idaho's Ag-Gag law as unconstitutional under the free speech and equal...

Tagged in: Ag-Gag,

In Their Own Words - Wyden

Posted 08/11/15

-- "IT IS TIME FOR THE CULTURE OF HOSTILITY AGAINST THE WHISTLEBLOWERS AT HANFORD TO END."

Senator Ron Wyden (D. OR.), taking "a public stand in favor of Hanford whistleblowers" as cited in the Hanford Challenge press release announcing the US Secretary of Labor decision finding Walt Ford, a former employee of Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant, was wrongfully terminated by Bechtel National in retaliation for raising...

Tagged in: In Their Own Words,

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