The Whistleblowers

Blowing the whistle on Apple

On this episode of The Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou speaks with someone who blew the whistle on the biggest company in the world. When the bottom line is profits, nearly every company will cut corners. But sometimes they will do it at a cost to the health and safety of their workers and to the public’s privacy. And for a whistleblower, that’s just not going to work. Ashley Gjovik, a former senior engineering program manager at Apple, documented and exposed unsafe work conditions, disturbing surveillance and intimidation practices, and systemic malfeasance at Apple Inc. After facing increasing retaliation in response to her attempts to escalate her concerns internally, she took her complaints to regulators, the press, and the public.

Samsung whistleblowing in South Africa

On this episode of The Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou speaks with major international business whistleblower June Bellamy. She will tell us about her whistleblowing revelations and the aftermath, working against Samsung in South Africa. What makes Bellamy so important is what she chose to do in the aftermath of her whistleblowing. Watch to find out!

Accused of Medicaid fraud

Rosa Serrano was convicted of Medicaid fraud in the state of Texas. Rosa was the owner and sole employee of a small company that made eyeglass lenses. She was accused of overbilling Medicaid, charged with fraud, and found guilty at trial. As you might imagine, there are cases like this across the United States every single day, and they are rarely noteworthy. But this case had it all: Jurors who couldn’t speak or understand English, ineffective attorneys, questionable jurisdiction, and an incompetent judge that just wanted to get the whole thing over with. On this episode of the Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou speaks with Rosa Serrano about her prison sentence and how she never stopped protesting her innocence.

Whistleblowers of America

There are lots of whistleblower organizations out there, especially in the United States, western Europe, and Australia. But many of them are parochial. They focus on narrow subjects or issues, rather than on the mental wellbeing of the whistleblower. Becoming a whistleblower is a decision not to be taken lightly. It often results in almost immediate social ostracism and isolation. So how does a whistleblower deal with that? He or she associates with the right organization. On this episode of The Whistleblowers, John is joined by our good friend Jackie Garrick to talk about her upcoming whistleblower event in our nation's capital on September 7-8.

USS Liberty survivor

On June 8, 1967 an overt act of war was committed against the United States. The combined air and sea attack against the naval ship USS Liberty killed 34 sailors, wounded another 171, and severely damaged the ship. At the time, the vessel was in international waters north of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. But the aggressor was not Egypt. It was not the Soviet Union or any other country with difficult relations with the United States. It was Israel. On this episode of the Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou speaks with a USS Liberty survivor, US Navy petty officer Phil Tourney.

Whistleblower protections in the UK

British whistleblower Georgina Halford-Hall has blown the whistle against wrongdoing multiple times—first with bullying in her son’s military school, and next in a non-profit charity. In this episode of 'Whistleblowers', John Kiriakou talks with Halford-Hall about the fallout from her whistleblowing, how she started her own nonprofit WhistleblowersUK, and how she is working with Parliament on whistleblowing legislation.