Whistleblower of the Week

In this special episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, host Jane Turner speaks with legendary Big Tobacco whistleblower Dr. Jeffrey Wigand. Dr. Wigand is the former Vice President of Research and Development at Brown and Williamson, a major tobacco company. He blew the whistle on Brown and Williamson's deliberate misconduct, strategic cigarette engineering, and research manipulation that aimed to get, and keep, cigarette users addicted while concealing the truth of the product. His whistleblower story was portrayed in the 1999 movie The Insider.

In Part I of their conversation, Jane and Dr. Wigand discuss his upbringing and his decision to blow the whistle after his startling discoveries about the practices of Big Tobacco.

Stay tuned next week for Part II of the Whistleblower of the Week interview with Dr. Jeffrey Wigand.

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In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, Jane speaks with Noel Engels. After spending over two decades working for the US government in intelligence, law enforcement, and military combat operations, Engels left his role as a Criminal Analyst at the Department of Homeland Security after filing a whistleblower complaint. Engels claims he was improperly removed from an investigation into human trafficking allegations against Utah County Attorney David O. Leavitt. He and Turner discuss the shocking details of that case and the retaliation he faced for speaking up.

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In this special episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, host Jane
Turner speaks with Billie Winner-Davis and Victoria Turner about the trauma
experienced by family members of whistleblowers who face retaliation.

Billie is the mother of Reality Winner, the intelligence community whistleblower
imprisoned for leaking a NSA report on the Russian government’s attempts to
interfere with the 2016 election. Victoria is the daughter of Whistleblower of the
Week’s Jane Turner, who twice blew the whistle on misconduct at the FBI.
Billie, Victoria and Jane discuss the ways that whistleblower retaliation extends
to family members. They also speak about being inspired to advocate for
whistleblowers.

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In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, host Jane Turner speaks with
former intelligence contractor Reality Winner. 

Motivated to act on a belief that the American public was not getting the full truth.
Winner leaked a top-secret NSA report on the Russian government’s attempts to hack a Florida-based voting software supplier ahead of the 2016 election to the news media.
Winner and Turner discuss her background, motivations, and how the Espionage Act
should be modified to give it more nuance. They also talk about the harsh sentence
handed down by the court and the impact her choices made on her life today. Winner
encourages would-be whistleblowers to use legal reporting channels.

Winner was the first person to be prosecuted, and later sentenced, under the Trump
administration for defying the Espionage Act. 

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In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, host Jane Turner
speaks with Aris Danikas, a whistleblower and the founder and CEO of Liberty of
Speech.

Turner and Danikas discuss his journey from whistleblower, he blew the whistle
on human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings by police in South Africa, to
whistleblower advocate.

They also speak about the upcoming conference Global Corruption And Public
Integrity - The Human Factor which features panel discussions on international
whistleblowing protection policies with a specific focus on the human toll
whistleblower retaliation has on whistleblowers and their families.

For more information on the conference (including how to register) visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/global-corruption-and-public-integrity-the-human-
factor-tickets-884026706677?aff=oddtdtcreator

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In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, host Jane Turner speaks with Johannah Phenya, the owner of a South African IT company who alongside her husband blew the whistle on alleged corruption and fraud in the awarding of government contracts.

Following their whistleblowing, Johannah’s husband, Marumo Phenya, was assassinated. Johannah was honored for her bravery by Blueprint for Free Speech in their 2023 Whistleblowing Awards.

She and Turner discuss her whistleblowing journey, her commitment to ensuring her husband’s death was not in vain, and the immense dangers faced by whistleblowers in South Africa.

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In this special episode of of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, host Jane Turner speaks with leading whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn, founding partner of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto and Chairman of the Board of National Whistleblower Center, about the Department of Justice’s ongoing development of a new whistleblower award program.

“We are on the verge of a major whistleblower development, one of the most important over the last twenty years,” explains Kohn. “The Justice Department plays a critical role in all of the major anti-corruption and fraud cases. So if we can help the Justice Department understand how they have to build this new program, it will be an incredible step forward.”

Kohn and Turner discuss the background of the program and its potential to revolutionize the DOJ’s handling of whistleblower cases and its ability to fight fraud and corruption. Kohn also outlines the key elements which the DOJ must implement for the program to be successful.

Kohn urges whistleblower supporters to join National Whistleblower Center in calling on the DOJ to follow proven best practices in the establishment of its new whistleblower award program. 

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In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, host Jane Turner
speaks with Mzukisi Makatse, who blew the whistle on a corrupt grant awarded
by the South African Lottery Commission.

Makatse was honored for his bravery by Blueprint for Free Speech in their 2023
Whistleblowing Awards. He and Jane discuss his whistleblowing journey,
including the immense retaliation he faced, as well as the state of whistleblowing
in South Africa.

Listen to the podcast on WNN or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Amazon. Subscribe on your favorite platform!

In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast,  Jane speaks with María de los Ángeles Estrada, a lawyer in Mexico specializing in transparency and anti-corruption. She serves as the Executive Director of the Transparency and Anti-Corruption Initiative of the School of Government and Public Transformation of the Tec de Monterrey, one of the most important and renowned universities in Latin America.

Turner and Ángeles Estrada discuss her legal and advocacy career as well as the importance of whistleblowers in anti-corruption efforts in Mexico and around the world. They also speak about Tec de Monterrey’s work alongside the National Whistleblower Center to educate individuals in Mexico about the transnational reach of U.S. whistleblower laws.

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In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, host Jane Turner speaks with leading whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn, founding partner of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto and Chairman of the Board of National Whistleblower Center, about the recent landmark ruling in the Supreme Court whistleblower case Murray v. UBS Securities. 

Kohn gives historical perspective on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) and explains the law. A major aspect of SOX was that it changed the burden of proof so that whistleblowers only need to prove that their whistleblowing was a “contributing factor” to a decision to fire them. In Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC, et al. 601 U. S. ____ (2024), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had held that whistleblowers must not prove that the employer acted with “retaliatory intent.” This was the issue before the Supreme Court in Murray.

 Kohn explains the statute and how the Court applied it in Murray.  He then goes on to discuss the impact of the Court’s ruling on whistleblower law. “This precedent not only covers Wall-Street but covers whistleblower laws across the board.”

 “I believe, based on the Supreme Court decision and the jury verdict, Trevor Murray will ultimately fully prevail, and this will be a historic victory for every single corporate whistleblower, federal employee and other sectors of the economy,” Kohn says.

Listen to the podcast on WNN or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Amazon. Subscribe on your favorite platform!