Whistleblower Attorney Examines Facebook Whistleblowing Aftermath

Stephen M. Kohn, leading whistleblower attorney and founding partner of Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto, recently joined the Duke University-sponsored “Debugger” podcast.

Debugger, hosted by author and investigative journalist Bob Sullivan, looks to discuss the intersection of technology and democracy.

Kohn’s feature episode, titled “Rules for Whistleblowers: a Handbook for Doing What’s Right” after his upcoming book, focused on the aftermath of Francis Haugen’s public Facebook disclosures and the role whistleblowers play in exposing large-scale misconduct.

“Facebook is facing, and all tech is facing, the realization that their employees can be anonymous and confidential, qualify for extremely large financial awards, 10-30% of a sanction, and really keep their jobs,” Kohn said.

Kohn, who has represented whistleblowers since 1984, explained how the protections offered by existing laws and programs are employees best bet at shielding themselves from the wrath of these corporate giants.

“Ellsberg, Snowden, Deep Throat,” Kohn said. “These were sensational media exposes, and the concept was a loud public report of wrongdoing. That’s still permitted under the new laws, but the new laws – with their anonymity and confidentiality features – make it much safer for someone to become a whistleblower.”

While Kohn encourages this backdoor style of whistleblowing, he recognizes that it is not always a person’s instinct when they come across a major fraud.

“Well, whistleblowers, many of them, will always alert the public,” Kohn said. “Nothing will stop that… Those who go public deserve our support. And really historic recognition for the value they have added to society. But they’re often … they often just get crushed because they’re vulnerable.”

Since 2011, when the newly passed Dodd-Frank Act created whistleblower programs at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, nearly 10 billion dollars has been issued in sanctions, with well over $1.5 billion going back to whistleblowers in the form of monetary rewards.

“From my view,” Kohn said, “having represented whistleblowers for 35 years, whistleblowers can’t lose.”

Kohn credits these whistleblowers with bringing about change, protecting harmed investors, and keeping the public informed of major scandals that may have otherwise gone undetected.

The full podcast transcript is available here.