Courtesy of Flickr user AranamiProPublica: How Citibank Dumped Lousy Mortgages on the Government
Summary: Citigroup will pay $158 million to settle a suit over bad loans the bank passed on to the federal government to insure. The case was first brought by a whistleblower who said the company actively undermined their process for checking for fraud to push through these reckless loans.
Related Article: Reuters
Traitor: The Whistleblower and the ‘American Taliban’ a Must-Read
Summary: GAP National Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack has released a new memoir about her time as a Department of Justice whistleblower. The book details her experience blowing the whistle on Bush administration officials' mishandling of the “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh case, the subsequent and significant retaliation against her for doing so, and how she used her experiences to later guide other high-profile whistleblowers.
Traitor was the #1 bestselling Amazon release under “Human Rights Law,” and is a must-read for anyone concerned with the Obama administration’s use of bringing Espionage Act charges against intelligence whistleblowers.
Thomson Reuters: MBIA Tells Judge of Newly Uncovered Countrywide Fraud Database
Summary: Lawyers for a financial services company have requested a judge to order Countrywide Financial Corp. to disclose information regarding a newly-found internal fraud-tracking database. The company is making the request to prepare “for upcoming depositions of former Countrywide employees who tried to expose” wrongdoing, including GAP client Eileen Foster.
Jimmy John's Franchise Owners Face Trial After Firing Sick-Day Organizers
Summary: GAP's Food Integrity Campaign (FIC) details the acts of retaliation Jimmy John's franchise owners have imposed in response to employee unionization efforts – including attempts to gain paid sick days – that led the owners to trial this week. FIC explains why anti-union efforts against food industry workers are moves against food safety.
Summary: State Department whistleblower Peter Van Buren gave a speech recently in which he detailed his time in Iraq working on the reconstruction efforts. Upon his return, he wrote a book that revealed many of the problems with these efforts.
Key Quote: The Government Accountability Project is now representing Van Buren, who went from administrative leave to teleworker. Van Buren said his speeches and Internet use is monitored, and he’s regularly called into the State Department to be scolded.
“I believe America is bigger and better than all that,” Van Buren said. “I went to Iraq to represent the United States, to do the United States’ business, and I found out that we were lying to ourselves. We weren’t doing what we said we were doing. And I simply came back and wrote that all down.”
Leader-Post (Canada): Whistleblower Sues Province
Summary: A former youth facility director in Saskatchewan, Canada is suing the province, alleging he was fired for blowing the whistle on harassing behavior.
Post-Bulletin (MN): Whistleblower Wins Case against Mayo Clinic
Summary: The US Department of Labor has found in favor of a whistleblower that claimed she was discriminated against by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota after making legally protected safety disclosures. The clinic has been ordered to reinstate the whistleblower.
The Republic (AZ): Surprise City Council Adopts Whistleblower Ordinance
Summary: The city of Surprise, Arizona has enacted whistleblower protections that prohibit retaliation against city employees who reveal wrongdoing.
Associated Press: Obama's Budget Cuts Bacteria Testing in Produce
Summary: The proposed budget President Obama sent to Congress Monday would cut the USDA program that tests fresh produce for dangerous bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli. Food safety advocates are concerned about the move, which would shift testing responsibility to the private sector.
Hannah Johnson is Communications Associate for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.
