Danske Bank Waives Nondisclosure Agreements Permitting Danske Bank Whistleblower to Testify Before Danish and European Parliaments
STATEMENT OF STEPHEN M. KOHN
KOHN, KOHN AND COLAPINTO, LLP
ATTORNEY FOR WHISTLEBLOWER HOWARD WILKINSON
“Today (October 29, 2018) the Danske Bank whistleblower, Mr. Howard Wilkinson, was informed by Danske Bank that the secrecy agreement the Bank required him to sign in 2014 has been partially waived. Mr. Wilkinson has been granted permission to testify before the European and Danish Parliaments, and to provide information to the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission concerning the money $230 billion money laundering scheme for which Danske Bank participated in.”
“The waivers from Danske Bank are ‘too little, too late.’ The people of Denmark and all of the countries impacted by the Russian money laundering scheme had a right to know about Mr. Wilkinson’s concerns back in 2014.”
“The Bank must immediately issue similar waivers to every Danske Bank employee who signed similar agreements. Every witness to the Danske Bank money laundering scheme must be freed from all restrictions on testifying regarding these crimes. The Bank must also permit full disclosure to all law enforcement entities in Estonia and Denmark.”
“Had the Bank not insisted upon an overly broad secrecy agreement, the harm caused by the illegal money laundering scheme would have been significantly mitigated.”
“The European Parliament, the Danish Parliament, and all of the governing bodies in Europe should take prompt action to ensure that whistleblowers are not silenced by restrictive nondisclosure agreements.”
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Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto’s primary litigation includes representing international whistleblowers under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, tax fraud whistleblowers,qui tam reward laws, the False Claims Act, SEC whistleblowers and IRS whistleblowers. In 2012 the firm obtained the largest whistleblower reward given to a single individual in history ($104 million to UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld). Stephen M. Kohn’s eighth book on whistleblower law is the highly respected The New Whistleblower’s Handbook(Lyons Press, 2017).
Photo Credit: Jimmy Baikovicius
