The National Whistleblower Center (NWC) proudly hosted the annual National Whistleblower Day celebration on Capitol Hill on July 30. This year commemorated the 248th anniversary of the U.S. Continental Congress’s unanimous passage of the nation’s first whistleblower protection law.
The correlation and collaboration of whistleblowers and the media was highlighted at this year’s event. Whistleblowers and media professionals delivered addresses that provided distinctive insight about the intricacies and realities of coming forward and thoughtfully reporting on these actions.
Desiree Fixler Stresses The Need for ‘Substance Over Form’
Desiree Fixler, a prominent whistleblower in the financial services sector, was a featured speaker during National Whistleblower Day. As a strong proponent of the integrity of the Dodd-Frank Act, Fixler used her National Whistleblower Day address to tell her story and warn why opaque standards and lengthy delays may discourage future insiders from coming forward.
“Congress created these protections and incentives because insiders are often the only people who can reveal the truth,” she told the audience in the Kennedy Caucus Room. “So, my message today is very simple: We need to enshrine substance over form. Whistleblowers deserve clear communication, reliable timelines and fair treatment.”
In March 2021, after Fixler was retaliated against and fired for reporting fraudulent “greenwashing” concerns while serving as Deutsche Bank’s chief sustainability officer, she went to the press. Her disclosures helped trigger regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. and abroad, and as a result, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) later imposed a $19 million sanction on the firm’s asset management division. That resolution highlighted the value of insider reporting in exposing greenwashing and other forms of corporate misrepresentation.
As previously reported, Fixler was unjustly denied a standard percentage of the SEC award despite helping the Commission expose serious misconduct over a two-year period. The reason, the SEC publicly stated, is because she spoke to the Wall Street Journal before filing a claim with the Commission. The SEC’s action was decried by NWC, legal scholars and several other advocacy groups as a grave injustice.
“My award claims remained under review for years after the government collected the fines,” Fixler said. “Then after years of review, far longer than the actual investigations and enforcement, my claims were denied. That lack of good faith reciprocity is very difficult to reconcile. How can a whistleblower be encouraged to cooperate, provide extensive assistance, and remain engaged for years only to be told that [they were] never eligible from day one?”
Fixler added that these very questions are being raised by her lawyer, NWC Board Chair Stephen Kohn, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. If the court finds in her favor and overturns the denial, she may be eligible to receive between $1.9 million to $5.7 million.
“Clearly this outcome affects me, but I’m raising it today because everyone in this room wants to improve the landscape for truth tellers,” Fixler said during her address on July 30. “We ask people who witness fraud to risk their careers, their reputation, their financial security. In return, the rules governing cooperation and compensation should be clear, consistent and fair.”
Pulitzer Prize Winner Kevin G. Hall Discusses the Impact of the Changing Journalism Landscape
Kevin G. Hall is the North America Editor for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a nonprofit, mission-driven newsroom that partners with other media outlets to publish news that spurs action. Many OCCRP sources come from inside criminal organizations, like drug cartels, exemplifying the high level of integrity of its reporters and storytelling.
Hall’s presence reinforced the connection between whistleblowers and the news media in bringing the truth to light and helping secure justice and protections for those who come forward.
“Investigative journalism and whistleblowers go hand-in-hand,” said Hall, who received a Pulitzer finalist recognition for reporting on the U.S. financial crisis, and a shared 2017 Pulitzer Prize as a lead U.S. partner in the Panama Papers.
“It’s hard to do what we do without having someone with courage contact us, whether it’s sharing a document, a story or a data set,” he said. “Just think as we reference the Panama Papers in 2016. Information contained in that leak changed our perceptions – or perhaps confirmed them – about how the world really works. Governments fell in Iceland, the UK, Pakistan. Laws were changed. Commonwealth countries began sharing information on beneficial ownership of companies. Wyoming and Nevada changed their laws after we exposed the lack of real contacts for shell companies that were owned by Russian nationals, Chinese, Ecuadorians and people all around the world, many with ill intent.”
Hall also highlighted the challenges posed by the evolving landscape that whistleblowers and journalists must navigate together.
“Technology is making it easier for whistleblowers to share, that’s the good news,” Hall said. “But tools like Zero Click, Pegasus spyware and its successors pose risks. Just logging on to your computer can potentially jeopardize a source. The proliferation of flock cameras, which we’ve heard a lot in recent weeks … are things that, as a journalist you didn’t have to think about until fairly recently. The media landscape is changing, and the mechanisms for interaction between journalists and whistleblowers are symbiotic. The relationship carries on even as the platforms change on how we tell these stories.”
Media Panel Dives Deeper into the Symbiotic Relationship Between Storytellers and Whistleblowers
Hall was later joined by a media panel featuring ProPublica investigative reporter Ben Foldy and artist and filmmaker Zefrey Throwell. Moderated by investigative reporter Oishika Neogi, the panel explored how and why journalists have represented a refuge for whistleblowers who may feel they are out of options but remain compelled to speak out.
Foldy noted that journalists are uniquely positioned to assess the truth and attract the attention of powerful individuals and decisionmakers.
“I think that the real power of reporting […] is kind of our ability to talk to anybody,” Foldy said. “The whistleblower presumably is not going to be able to sit down with the CEO of the corporation that they’re criticizing and get answers out of them, straight or otherwise, or even the government. The power of the press is that we can.”
All panelists agreed that whistleblowers should be reported on fairly and accurately. Throwell noted that his work as a documentary filmmaker is often in tandem with investigative journalism, and sometimes begins where news reporting ends.
“My job is really to tell the story, and often [National Whistleblower Day’s attendees’] stories in a way that the American public will actually watch,” said Throwell, a filmmaker who has chronicled FBI whistleblower Jane Turner’s journey foran upcoming documentary. “To stand up against society is no easy task. And you deserve to be portrayed as the heroes that you are.”
