Whistleblower News From The Inside – March 26, 2015

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

Schlumberger subsidiary agrees to plead guilty and pay $233M for violating US sanctions — Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings Ltd. agreed to enter a guilty plea and pay a $232,708,356 penalty for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by willfully facilitating illegal transactions and engaging in trade with Iran and Sudan.  DOJ

Labor Department asked to ban gag clauses for whistleblowers – The Government Accountability Project along with a whistleblower attorney have called on the Department of Labor to work to block companies from requiring employees to sign pacts that curb their ability to report fraud to the government.  Reuters

Europe fed up with corruption – “Prosecutors, judges and even political leaders themselves are, in much of Europe, becoming more serious about uncovering and punishing corruption.”  FT

OXYwater owners found guilty of fraud — After two days of deliberations, a federal jury in Ohio found Thomas E. Jackson and Preston J. Harrison guilty of wire fraud, money laundering and misappropriating millions of dollars that investors poured into their sports-drink company.  Columbus Dispatch

Bribery impacts 1 in 4 worldwide – “Paying bribes to access basic services is rife worldwide: our research shows that globally, it affects the lives of more than one in four people.  Transparency Int’l

HMRC’s use of powers against whistleblower “indefensible” – Members of UK Parliament have severely criticized HM Revenue and Customs over its use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to examine the belongings, emails, internet search records and phone calls of their own solicitor, Osita Mba, and the phone records of his then wife to try to prove that a whistleblower had spoken to the Guardian.   The Guardian