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Whistleblowers

HSBC Whistleblower Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison

November 29, 2015 Andrew Emett, www.nationofchange.org , ,
By Andrew Emett for Nation of Change. A former HSBC employee was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for aggravated industrial espionage. Although HSBC claims the whistleblower initially stole the information for his own personal financial gain, his revelations exposed international fraud, tax evasion, and money-laundering scams involving thousands of corrupt businessmen and arms dealers. While developing a client management database for HSBC’s Swiss private bank in 2004, Hervé Falciani was handed access to extremely sensitive and incriminating data. According to the private bank accounts, HSBC was allowing criminal organizations to launder their blood money while turning a blind eye to affluent clients committing tax evasion. Instead of ignoring the data, Falciani brought his laptop into work and downloaded the details of approximately 130,000 HSBC accounts. On December 11, 2014, the Swiss government indicted Falciani for violating the country’s bank secrecy laws and committing industrial espionage. Instead of extraditing Falciani or filing charges against him, the French government opened a criminal investigation into HSBC. Refusing to appear in Swiss court, Falciani dismissed the legal proceedings against him as a “parody of justice.” Convicted in absentia, Falciani was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for committing the largest leak in banking history.

Drone Pilots’ Bank Accounts And Credit Cards Frozen By Feds

November 28, 2015 William N. Grigg, www.thefreethoughtproject.com
By William N. Grigg for The Free Thought Project - The U.S. Government failed to deter them through threats of criminal prosecution, and clumsy attempts to intimidate their families. Now four former Air Force drone operators-turned-whistleblowers have had their credit cards and bank accounts frozen, according to human rights attorney Jesselyn Radack. “My drone operators went public this week and now their credit cards and bank accounts are frozen,” Radack lamented on her Twitter feed (the spelling of her post has been conventionalized). This was done despite the fact that none of them has been charged with a criminal offense – but this is a trivial formality in the increasingly Sovietesque American National Security State.

Despite US Pressure, EU Parliament Clears Path For Snowden Asylum

October 30, 2015 Kevin Gosztola, www.shadowproof.com ,
By Kevin Gosztola for Shadow Proof - In the face of global pressure from the United States, the European Parliament passed a resolution which may pave the way for a European Union country to grant asylum to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. By a vote of 285 to 281, members of Parliament called on EU member states to “drop any criminal charges against Edward Snowden, grant him protection and consequently prevent extradition or rendition by third parties, in recognition of his status as whistle-blower and international human rights defender.” Snowden described the development as a “game-changer” and added, “This is not a blow against the U.S. government, but an open hand extended by friends. It is a chance to move forward.”

Whistleblowers In Canada Could Receive Awards Exceeding $1 Million

October 29, 2015 Roisin Davis, www.truthdig.com ,
By Roisin Davis for Truth Dig - Whistleblowers in Canada could receive awards in excess of $1 million for exposing corporate wrongdoing as part of a formal policy being unveiled Wednesday by the Ontario Securities Commission. Tom Atkinson, the commission’s director of enforcement, announced Monday that the awards could be larger in some cases, especially if more than $10 million in Canadian dollars was collected under the scheme. Canada’s Financial Post reports: [Atkinson] said he could not elaborate until the formal policy is unveiled, but suggested that qualifying for the higher amount would likely be tied to the collection of sanctions or settlement payments, rather than simply the assessment of money due.

Edward Snowden Weighs In On CISA: “It’s A Surveillance Bill.”

October 28, 2015 Staff, www.tumblr.fightforthefuture.org , , ,
By Staff of Fight For The Future - WASHINGTON - Last night, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden joined Fight for the Future’s Q&A session on reddit to weigh in on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA,) the controversial “cybersecurity” bill that is expected to see a vote on the Senate floor this afternoon. “CISA isn't a cybersecurity bill,” Snowden wrote in the reddit “IAmA” thread, “It's not going to stop any attacks. It's not going to make us any safer. It's a surveillance bill. What it allows is for the companies you interact with every day -- visibly, like Facebook, or invisibly, like AT&T -- to indiscriminately share private records about your interactions and activities with the government.”

UN Calls For Greater Protection Of Whistleblowers

October 24, 2015 Staff, www.ohchr.org ,
By Staff of OHCHR - The Special Rapporteur’s report to the UN General Assembly in 2015 is now online. This report, the latest among several produced by the mandate over the past twenty years to consider rights of access to information, focuses on the protection of sources and whistleblowers around the world. It reviews national and international laws and practices and provides recommendations to improve available protections. As part of the preparations for this report, the Special Rapporteur issued calls for submissions from Governments and Civil Society. The Special Rapporteur is pleased to acknowledge the many States and NGOs that responded to this call, which may be found below.

Newsletter – A People United Will Never Be Defeated

October 18, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. This week, hundreds of thousands rallied in Washington, DC for the Million Man March, more information became available regarding US war crimes, we celebrated the second annual People's Climate March and World Food Day and we are preparing a mass mobilization to protest the TransPacific Partnership. Popular Resistance is collaborating with a growing number of organizations and people to protest the TransPacific Partnership and other international treaties that will prevent us from achieving success in our struggles for racial, economic and environmental justice. We are planning a mass mobilization in Washington, DC this November to show the large and diverse opposition to agreements that force us to sacrifice the health and safety of our communities for corporate profits. There will be two days of action preparation followed by three full days of creative events. You are invited to participate in any way that you can.

The Sad Fate Of America’s Whistleblowers

October 18, 2015 John Kiriakou, www.otherwords.org
By John Kiriakou for Otherwords - What is it about whistleblowers that the powers that be can’t stand? When I blew the whistle on the CIA’s illegal torture program, I was derided in many quarters as a traitor. My detractors in the government attacked me for violating my secrecy agreement, even as they ignored the oath we’d all taken to protect and defend the Constitution. It’s not just government employees either. Whistleblowers first brought attention to wrongdoing at Enron, Lehman Brothers, Stanford International Bank, and elsewhere. And what’s their reward? Across the board, whistleblowers are investigated, harassed, fired, and in some cases prosecuted. That’s the conclusion of author Eyal Press, whose book Beautiful Souls: The Courage and Conscience of Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times documents the struggles of whistleblowers throughout history. Press’s whistleblowers never recover financially or professionally from their actions. History seems to smile on them, but during their lifetimes they remain outcasts.

Snowden & Ellsberg Hail New Drone Whistleblower

October 18, 2015 Tom McCarthy , www.theguardian.com , , , ,
By Tom McCarthy for the Guardian - American whistleblowers hailed the release on Thursday of a collection of classified documents about US drone warfare as a blow on behalf of transparency and human rights. “It’s wonderful,” Ellsberg said. “I waited 40 years to see somebody, for Chelsea Manning, to put out a comprehensive, sufficiently voluminous number of long-held secrets, enough to make the case clear. “I waited 40 years for Chelsea. Three more for Snowden. And so it’s wonderful that somebody is telling the truth about this series of crimes. I’m very glad to see it.” Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who in 2013 leaked classified documents about surveillance programs to journalist Glenn Greenwald – then at the Guardian, now at the Intercept – hailed the new leak on Twitter. Ellsberg said of the source: “I hope they stay anonymous. Nothing at all would be gained by their suffering the fate of exile like Snowden [who now lives in Russia], or isolation or imprisonment like Chelsea [who was given a 35-year jail term]. Or the life sentences that I faced, or that others have faced. “It comes down to this. Hundreds could have done what I did, literally. And should have. Hundreds of people could and should have done what Edward Snowden did. And hundreds of people could and should have done what Chelsea Manning did."

Whistleblower Fired From Whistleblower Protection Program

October 18, 2015 Carey Wedler, www.theantimedia.org
By Carey Wedler for The Anti-Media - A former employee of the Whistleblower Protection Program claims he was fired for blowing the whistle on misconduct within the agency. The accusations highlight the government’s past and present attitudes towards those who inform the public of corruption within the system. Darrell Whitman worked for five years as an investigator for “Region 9” of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which administers the Whistleblower Protection Program. Region 9 encompasses California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, and Guam, a U.S. territory. Whitman says he attempted to expose “bureaucratic dysfunction” within the agency that led to a failure to “defend workers who faced retaliation for reporting illegal activity and public safety concerns.” After being fired in May, he now claims he was terminated for his attempts to address these issues.

Whistleblow Wall Street: Platform To Expose Corruption

October 11, 2015 Staff, www.whistleblowwallstreet.com , , ,
By Staff of Whistleblow Wallstreet - Whistleblow Wall Street provides a platform for banking and financial sector employees to blow the whistle on unfair practices and corruption. From call center workers that aren’t allowed to go to the bathroom, to bank tellers forced to sell predatory products because of unreasonable sales goals, to high level executives that are pressured and rewarded for engaging in illegal practices, Whistleblow Wall Street aims to help financial sector employees root out the worst practices in the financial industry. As we all now know, Wall Street banks wrecked the economy and brought the world to the brink of financial collapse. Meanwhile federal regulators were nowhere to be found, media organizations had already dismantled their investigative units, corporate compliance departments did not dare to question the profit centers, and the creators of highly leveraged securities stole billions of dollars. At WhistleblowWallStreet we are saying, “Never again!”

The Revolutionary Act Of Telling The Truth

October 4, 2015 John Pilger, www.johnpilger.com , , ,
By John PIlger - Real dissent has become exotic; yet those who dissent have never been more important. The book I am launching tonight, 'The WikiLeaks Files', is an antidote to a fascism that never speaks its name. It's a revolutionary book, just as WikiLeaks itself is revolutionary - exactly as Orwell meant in the quote I used at the beginning. For it says that we need not accept these the daily lies. We need not remain silent. Or as Bob Marley once sang: "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery." In the introduction, Julian Assange explains that it is never enough to publish the secret messages of great power: that making sense of them is crucial, as well as placing them in the context of today and historical memory. Never has such truth-telling been so urgently needed. With honourable exceptions, those in the media paid ostensibly to keep the record straight are now absorbed into a system of propaganda that is no longer journalism, but anti-journalism. This is true of the liberal and respectable as it is of Murdoch. Unless you are prepared to monitor and deconstruct every specious assertion, so-called news has become unwatchable and unreadable. Reading The WikiLeaks Files, I remembered the words of the late Howard Zinn, who often referred to "a power that governments can't suppress". That describes WikiLeaks, and it describes true whistleblowers who share their courage.

Blow The Whistle On Agribusiness, Ag-Gag Law Unconstitutional

August 7, 2015 Staff, www.centerforfoodsafety.org , ,
By Staff for the Center for Food Safety - Idaho’s Ag-Gag law is unconstitutional, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho ruled today, overturning the law. In a landmark victory for a broad-based public interest coalition of national nonprofits, including Center for Food Safety (CFS), the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Idaho, the court held that the Ag-Gag law, Idaho Code sec. 18-7042, violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Today’s decision marks the first time a court has declared an Ag-Gag statute unconstitutional. “This is a huge victory for free speech, animal welfare, and food safety. Without the ability to witness and expose the illegal and unethical behavior that goes on in one of the nation’s most powerful industries, we are all vulnerable. This latest ruling affirms our right to report abuse in order to protect animals and our health,” said Paige Tomaselli, senior attorney for Center for Food Safety.

Chelsea Manning Legal Defense: First Look Media Matching Funds

July 16, 2015 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org , ,
By Staff for Popular Resistance - First Look Media’s Press Freedom Litigation Fund and the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) are announcing the launch of a matching fund campaign to support the legal defense of U.S. Army intelligence analyst turned whistleblower Chelsea Manning. First Look Media’s Press Freedom Litigation Fund will match $50,000 in donations to the campaign along with Glenn Greenwald, Intercept co-founder and journalist, who will personally match $10,000 for the initiative. Said Chelsea Manning: “Being in prison while trying to figure out how I will pay for my legal appeal has been a great source of stress and anxiety. I’m so honored that a new campaign is supporting me in my effort to vindicate my legal rights, and I am truly grateful to anyone who is helping.”

Judge Probes Claim Of Evidence Destruction In NSA Leak Prosecution

July 5, 2015 Marisa Taylor, www.newsobserver.com , , ,
By Marisa Taylor for McClatchy News. A federal judge is investigating allegations that the government may have improperly destroyed documents during the high-profile media leak investigation of National Security Agency whistleblower Thomas Drake. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Gallagher’s inquiry was launched after Drake’s lawyers in April accused the Pentagon inspector general’s office of destroying possible evidence during Drake’s criminal prosecution, which ended almost four years ago, McClatchy has learned. In a May 13 letter, Gallagher told Justice Department lawyers that the judge who had presided over the case asked her to evaluate the allegations from Drake’s lawyers “for further investigation and to make recommendations as to whether any action by the court is warranted or appropriate.” The allegations raise new questions about a prosecution that had been excoriated by the presiding judge after the Justice Department’s case against Drake unraveled and resulted in the former senior NSA official pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
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