Huffington Post: Holder Wishing for Wall Street Whistleblowers? But DOJ Consistently Ignores Them
GAP Executive Director Bea Edwards responds to Attorney General Eric Holder’s presentation last week regarding his plea that the Department of Justice needs help from whistleblowers to hold Wall Street wrongdoers accountable. In her Huffington Post column, Edwards asserts that the speech – which included a recommendation to increase the cap on bounties paid to financial whistleblowers – was merely an unconvincing attempt to boost DOJ’s record on the crimes behind the 2008 financial crisis. She details the cases of key financial whistleblowers ignored by the DOJ.
Key Quote: At GAP, where we’ve helped more than 5,000 whistleblowers over the last 37 years, we’ve rarely seen a case in which the whistleblower came forward for money. Richard Bowen made his disclosures because he was doing his job and he believed that it was the right thing to do. Eileen Foster did the same. Neither expected to be paid anything other than a salary – but then they didn’t expect to be fired either.
DOJ doesn’t have to hand over huge bonuses in order to encourage whistleblowers on Wall Street to come forward, now that, as Holder admits, the Department is no longer actively policing the financial world. It ought to protect them from retaliation, though.
Los Angeles Times: Former Air Marshal’s Whistleblower Case Moves to High Court
This article details the whistleblower retaliation story of GAP client and former federal air marshal Robert MacLean, whose case heads to the Supreme Court. He was fired after revealing that air marshals were going to be removed from long distance commercial flights to save money at the same time terrorists were threatening to target U.S. aircraft.
Key Quote: After an eight-year legal battle to get his job back, MacLean now finds himself before the nation’s highest court in a case that might affect the Whistleblower Protection Act, which he is using to challenge his firing.
Associated Press: Kauai County Council Approves Legal Appeal Funding
The Kauai County Council has approved additional funding to appeal a court ruling that blocks implementation of the county’s new pesticide transparency legislation. GAP’s Food Integrity Campaign (FIC) has been following this battle to hold biotech companies accountable and protect public health. Learn more on FIC’s blog.