“My sole hope is that other Volunteers don’t have to go through what I went through.” In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, FBI whistleblower Jane Turner catches up with Peace Corps whistleblower Sara Thompson. Thompson served in the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso and experienced medical complications from taking mefloquine, a controversial anti-malaria medicine that the Corps administered. Since her service, she has been fighting for expanded rights, including whistleblower protections, for Peace Corps Volunteers.


In this episode, Thompson catches Jane up on the two pieces of Peace Corps reform legislation, one of which is in the House and one in the Senate. She talks about the specifics of the bills and the reforms they make and shouts out other people who have been important in the making of these bills. 


Thompson tells Turner about how she got involved in the making of the legislation, provides an overview of her Peace Corps story (you can listen to her full story here), and talks about the shortcomings of the reform bills. They also discuss the next steps for the legislation and how Thompson has become someone that other returned Volunteers go to for guidance and support. Get the latest from Thompson in this engaging episode!  


Read a written Whistleblower of the Week profile on Thompson here. 


Listen to a previous podcast on which Thompson was featured here.


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

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

Join FBI whistleblower Jane Turner in conversation with Dr. Allison Gill, VA whistleblower, Founder of MSW Media, and Host of the Mueller, She Wrote and The Daily Beans podcasts. In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, Dr. Gill recounts her time working for the Department of Veterans Affairs as a liaison to the Department of Defense for the VA to TRICARE and tells the story of how she was forced out of her position. She talks with Turner about her reasons for not filing a whistleblower complaint and the specifics behind her removal from her government job.

In this episode, Dr. Gill also talks about her highly successful podcast Mueller, She Wrote and discusses what happened when the podcast came out. She details going on to get her Ph.D, her coping mechanisms and how she pushes forward, and the current status of her case. Finally, Dr. Gill talks about her current work on the podcasts and the media network she founded, and provides a piece of advice that she wants every whistleblower to know. This is a must-listen episode!

Dr. Gill will be the keynote speaker for the National Whistleblower Center’s National Whistleblower Day celebration this year. Learn more here.

Read the 2020 Whistleblower of the Week profile on Dr. Gill here. 

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

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

In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, FBI whistleblower Jane Turner talks to Noel McGree, who blew the whistle on corruption in the Irish prison service. Learn more about whistleblowing law in Ireland as McGree talks about lending his knowledge and advising in the country’s implementation of the EU whistleblowing directive. McGree delves into his whistleblower story: in 2013, he was asked to participate in theft while working in a prison. After refusing to participate in the theft, McGree experienced retaliation and was removed from his catering duties. He made a health and safety report that later became defined as a whistleblowing act, and a judge ruled in McGree’s favor in the case. However, retaliation against McGree worsened after the judge’s ruling.

McGree describes being harassed by his colleagues at work and tells Turner that his family was put at risk as well. He talks about the extensive toll blowing the whistle has taken on his and his family’s lives. McGree also discusses ways in which he has used his circumstances to better the system for other whistleblowers: he impacted change at the prison when a protected disclosures office and manager was created there. McGree talks with Turner about his plans for the future, his support systems, being a founding member of Blowers Ireland, and how a job he found after leaving the prison service was a welcome breath of fresh air. Don’t miss this incredible whistleblower’s story!

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In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, FBI whistleblower Jane Turner speaks with Stephen Kohn, Founding Partner of law firm Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto and Founder and Chairman of the Board of the National Whistleblower Center. Kohn, a whistleblower attorney and expert in the field, discusses what's going on the international world of whistleblowing, having just returned from a trip to London. During his trip, Kohn talked with bank investigators about how they have whistleblower rights under U.S. laws and also explained the unique procedures that investigators and auditors can utilize to obtain protection.

"We work overtime to demonstrate that anti-corruption knows no bounds." Kohn chats with Turner about his long standing work spreading the "good news" that whistleblowing works to lawmakers and regulators, both at home and abroad. Turner asks about success stories from spreading the word about the efficacy of whistleblowing around the world, and Kohn talks about the positive changes he's seeing in whistleblowing developments throughout the world.

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

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

“I was not going to be silenced, and the world needed to know.” In their first appearance on a show together, Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, U.S. Treasury Department whistleblower, and Jason Leopold, investigative reporter who helped bring Edwards’ story to the public, discuss their stories. In a conversation with FBI whistleblower Jane Turner, Edwards talks about the wrongdoing she witnessed while working for the Treasury Department’s FinCEN division, her decision to come forward and blow the whistle on the illicit activity, and how she went through all the right reporting channels and still ended up serving time in prison. Leopold discusses the impact that Edwards’ disclosures had worldwide, his role as a journalist, the FinCEN files, and the sacrifices Edwards made to speak truth to power. Don’t miss this powerful episode!

Donate to Edwards’ GoFundMe fundraiser here. 

Read parts I, II, III, and IV of Edwards’ story on WNN.

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

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

In this episode, FBI whistleblower Jane talks with Trevor Kitchen, who blew the whistle on currency manipulation. Kitchen expressed that he was in a “very serious situation” and that “nowhere in the EU is safe” for him and his wife because of an arrest warrant. These fears would ring true when, on April 21, Kitchen was detained by Dutch officials at Schiphol Airport while he and his wife were attempting to travel. His detention occurred a mere week after this podcast episode was recorded. Fortunately, Kitchen was released on May 4 and told WNN he will be preparing a statement and catching up on much-needed sleep in the coming days.

Kitchen blew the whistle in 2011 after he noticed that his pension of 700,000 Swiss francs lost all of its value. He “exposed a scheme in which a major currency trader and several banks in multiple countries colluded to lower the values of the U.S. dollar and the British sterling pound for their own financial gain,” prior WNN reporting states. He was arrested in Portugal on January 19, 2021, on a European arrest warrant, which accused him of “crimes against personal honor, violation of privacy and threats,” according to the Whistleblower of the Week profile featuring Kitchen. On June 9, 2021, a Court of Appeals in Portugal ruled against a Swiss request for Kitchen’s extradition.

During this podcast episode, Kitchen starts off his story with what happened to him after he left the island of Madeira after winning the Swiss extradition case. He talks about what happened with the arrest warrants and criminal proceedings against him; he also describes basically living off the grid on his Swiss pension, without healthcare and too afraid to travel and visit family.

 He tells Turner about his background in the financial industry and describes what exactly he blew the whistle on – and the way he went about it. Kitchen discusses how even though the disclosures about the currency manipulation led to financial sanctions against the banks involved, none of the whistleblowers involved, including Kitchen, got one cent. He sets the record straight on what he was raising concerns about and how his faith in regulators has been shaken. Additionally, Kitchen talks about the severe repercussions he has had to face due to his whistleblowing, how currency manipulation affects the average person, and continuing his whistleblower fight for over 11 years.

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In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, FBI whistleblower Jane Turner talks with Nestlé whistleblower Dr. Yasmine Motarjemi. Dr. Motarjemi joined Nestlé in 2000 as its corporate food safety manager and was in charge of food safety at the global level, working in the head office based in Switzerland. She talks with Jane about her education and career path to Nestlé and details the food safety issues at the company she soon noticed, telling Turner that in the first 5 or 6 years of her time at Nestlé, it was a “battle to improve food safety.” Some of the things Dr. Motarjemi tried to raise awareness about within the company were babies choking on certain Nestlé biscuits, chemicals in pet food, and E. coli found in cookie dough. In 2005, she advocated for transparency in a situation in which infant formula had to be recalled because of a presence of ink from the packaging. She and Turner discuss the global ramifications of these food safety issues. 

In this episode, Dr. Motarjemi also talks with Turner about the efforts she went to to raise concerns about the food safety issues and mishandling of food safety management. She delves into the harsh and extensive retaliation and psychological harassment she faced; she also talks about the repercussions of said retaliation on her physical and mental health. Dr. Motarjemi recounts her battle in court with Nestlé and her fight to prove that she was speaking truth to power and trying to protect consumers. Finally, she and Turner talk about having a fierce spirit of a whistleblower and what shaped her strong conscience. 


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

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

 In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, FBI whistleblower Jane Turner continues her conversation with Stephanie Van de Motter, who blew the whistle on safety concerns at a luxury apartment building in Santa Monica. In the last episode, Van de Motter provided background on her journey to getting a dream job at 1221 Ocean Avenue and excelling at her job and then detailed her whistleblower story and how the situation took a turn for the worst. In this episode, she picks up her story by talking about being constructively discharged from her role at the apartment building, going through the arbitration, and the fight to get attorney’s fees. 


Turner and Van de Motter talk about the struggles of being women whistleblowers, and Van de Motter describes the hardships she faced at a job following her job with the Irvine Company where she blew the whistle. Van de Motter then discusses her transition to becoming a whistleblower advocate and talks about the Silenced No More Foundation, a peer-to-peer support group for whistleblowers. She highlights aspirations for the foundation and goals to inspire and aid the next generation of whistleblowers through personal storytelling and providing platforms for whistleblowers to share their experiences. 

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

 In this episode of the Whistleblower of the Week podcast, FBI whistleblower Jane Turner talks with Stephanie Van de Motter, who worked and lived in 1221 Ocean Avenue, a luxury apartment building in Santa Monica owned by the Irvine Company. Van de Motter talks about her journey from Michigan to California and the dream job she landed, where she brushed shoulders with the rich and famous and created a community at the apartment building. She details her discovery of a systemic mold and water intrusion problem at the complex. Van de Motter then talks about the ways in which the company first tried to hide the problems and then fix the issues — but in ways that endangered residents, defied safety standards, and prioritized profits. 

Van de Motter recalls her whistleblower journey, her fight for attorney’s fees, and describes how the company retaliated against her. She provides insights into the personal toll retaliation has taken on her and how she has been blackballed in her industry. Finally, she talks with Turner about her hope for the future generations of whistleblowers and starts to discuss her advocacy for whistleblower rights and the foundation she started, the Silenced No More Foundation. Part II of Van de Motter’s episode, where she talks more about her advocacy work and gives more insight into her case, will be published on April 11: stay tuned! 

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In this episode, Jane talks with Siri Nelson, Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center (NWC). Nelson discusses the ins and outs of information whistleblowers need to know and how they can get help. She talks about the advocacy, education, and policy work NWC does and looks to the future, highlighting her goals for the organization over the next 10 years. Nelson also gives insight into her personal background, career path, and how she became interested in whistleblower issues.

They discuss cultural attitudes towards whistleblowers and how these attitudes may have shifted in recent years, shining a light on international whistleblowers, and NWC’s yearly National Whistleblower Day celebration.
 
Corrections: Nelson said that the SEC gave over $1 billion in sanctions but meant that the SEC paid over $1 billion in whistleblower awards. 

Additionally, she said the name of the Wildlife Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act incorrectly: the bill title is as written here. 

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