Posts Tagged ‘ Whistleblowers ’

Whistleblowers: Are You the Next Erin Brockovich?

December 2nd, 2009. By Kristine B

Okay, so Erin Brockovich isn’t the only whistleblower in US history. But, thanks to that oh-so-memorable movie, a lot of people consider her to be the most famous whistleblower. Much like the movie about her ordeal showed, the path to becoming a whistleblower is often long, complex and filled with confrontation (including some memorable Oscar-worthy scenes). Many potential whistleblowers may not know all the protections available to them. So, this week Pleading Ignorance looks at complex world of whistleblowers. 

What is a Whistleblower?

Aside from the obvious (that’s right, a person who blows a whistle IS—technically—a whistleblower) a whistleblower is a person who reports that an organization of which he is a part of is involved in misconduct. Frequently, the organization is an employer, but it doesn’t have to be. The whistleblower reports the misconduct to a person or entity that has the power to take corrective action against the unethical organization. 

In a nutshell: Person A works for Company B, which is involved in illegal activity. Person A reports Company B’s activities to Entity C. Entity C then takes action against Company B for its illegal activity. In some cases, Person A then gets a movie made about her life. (Note: this Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Pleading Ignorance, Qui Tam, Whistleblowers
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Another Whistleblower Movie: A True Story, But Is It Real?

September 22nd, 2009. By Hunter West

The whistleblower has come to the big screen yet again, although the movie starring Matt Damon that debuted Friday—The Informant—was hardly the same story as whistleblower John Kopchinski, whose six-year battle with Pfizer recently ended with a “qui tam” lawsuit settlement of $51.5 million for him.

 

For all his trouble in blowing the whistle on Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Mark Whitacre got 9 years in prison. But that’s not just because he worked with the FBI for three years, wearing wires and employing other surveillance devices in an attempt to expose alleged price-fixing of lysine, a food additive. Where Whitacre went wrong was losing his trust in the FBI, and going off the bipolar deep end by abandoning his quest to bring down the company, instead drifting down the embezzlement sinkhole, defrauding  $9 million from his own employer.

 

In the end, the whistleblower did more time for his own misdeeds, than the price-fixing executives he initially sought to expose.

 

In contrast, John Kopchinski had a slightly easier time, and a much bigger reward at the end of his struggle. The former soldier was earning $125,000 a year at Pfizer when he was fired in 2003 after he complained to his superiors about the underhanded marketing tactics the pharmaceutical giant was using to vend its drug Bextra. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: John Kopchinski, Pfizer, Whistleblowers
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What the heck is Qui Tam?

August 20th, 2009. By AbiK

We’ve been posting about whistleblowers and it’s hard to talk about whistleblowing without coming across the phrase “Qui Tam”. Looks like some Latin thing again that legal folks are famously in love with—and, alas, it is! But beyond the Latin, why does it always seem to show up with whistleblowing cases? Pleading Ignorance takes a look at…

What the heck is Qui Tam?

First off, let’s be clear. Qui tam itself is not the full Latin phrase that the phrase initially comes from (got that?). Qui tam comes from this:

“qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso in hoc parte sequitur”

which, if we grab our handy dandy Cassell’s Latin dictionary, we’ll find means this:

“he who sues for the king as well as for himself”

Now, I don’t know. Maybe someone figured out at some point that we no longer have kings here on American soil. Who knows? But at some point, we got tired of tiring to remember the full Latin phrase, and gave it a nickname: Qui tam. Period. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Pleading Ignorance, Whistleblowers
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4 Greatest Whistleblower Movies of All-time

August 17th, 2009. By AbiK

You may not agree, but these four movies put the whole concept of whistleblowing and whistleblowers on the map and they brought to life the raw nerve, courage and strength it takes to go up against a major corporation or organization. What’s really great about this list is that each is based on a real-life story. In order of date of release…

1. Serpico.

(1973) Whistleblower: Frank Serpico. The classic Al Pacino. Ok, he had a few other classics as well…Serpico is the story of an undercover cop who’s mostly on the prowl for drug dealers and pushers. Most of his cop buddies are on the take accepting money on the job. Serpico thinks this ain’t right and wants to do something about it. And so he does…

2. Silkwood.

(1983) Whistleblower: Karen Silkwood. Possibly the first movie where we appreciated that Cher could go beyond singing, “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”. Hey, she did play quite a believable lesbian (and I won’t comment on daughter Chas’ breaking news last week). Of course, the presence of Meryl Streep usually doesn’t hurt at the box office. Streep plays Karen Silkwood who single-handly raises a red flag against Kerr-McGee in Oklahoma. It’s a nuclear plant she works at and she a number of folks she works with become contaminated by radiation…

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Whistleblowers
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Is Obama Reneging on Whistleblower Campaign Promise?

August 11th, 2009. By AbiK

So it seems. If you recall, President Obama made some campaign promises with regard to whistleblowers in government. There was even a kumbaya kind of moment when his position on whistleblowing was shared on his transition website. An article by Martha Gore at Examiner.com (The Washington Times initially broke this story) showed the original quote that was on the Obama site: 

Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process.

I’m convinced a number of advertising writers go into political PR writing as some kind of purgatory before heading out to sit in front of that IBM Selectric in the sky. Regardless, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Whistleblowers
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