Did Elon Musk try to ruin a Tesla whistleblower? It seems all is not well at Tesla’s California plant, nor at its Nevada factory.  This, according to former employee Martin Tripp, who allegedly leaked information about inefficiencies and product problems.  In response to Tripp’s evaluation of conditions at the factory, it seems Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla, sought his own brand of revenge.  

Details of the Tesla Whistleblower Case

A stunning report released to the Business Insider indicated that Tesla Inc. had some serious problems. It seems the Gigafactory was having to retool or completely dump 40% of all raw materials at its battery factory due to safety issues. The result was a $150 million deficit, all due to inefficiencies in the company.  Furthermore, some unsafe batteries were purportedly making it into cars in the marketplace. When the report made it to the media, Tesla denied it, but Musk was beyond irked, according to reports. In his agitation, he assigned investigators to locate the source of the leak.

In short order, the Tesla whistleblower was identified as Martin Tripp, an assembly line worker at the Gigafactory. Tripp, a self-described idealist,  had been hoping to improve procedures.

According to Musk, Tripp was no Tesla whistleblower hero hoping to inspire improvements; he was an enemy guilty of sabotaging the company.  In fact, Musk mused about the possibility that Tripp was a spy, working with rival industries or corporations to kill the eco-friendly vehicles under design. Could Tripp be connected to the oil industry, or might he be conspiring with other auto manufacturers? Tesla had been bruised by the media coverage, and Musk was not about to let that go. He sued Tripp for $167 million.

Shortly afterward, the local sheriff contacted alleged Tesla whistleblower Trip to say that an anonymous tip had led them to his doorstep.  Someone had called in and reported that Tripp was orchestrating a mass shooting at work. Police quickly determined that Tripp posed no threat, as he was weeping and had no weapons. Tripp confided to officers that Musk frightened him. In fact, he thought it likely that Musk was the anonymous caller.

Per this article, an investigation revealed that Musk did, indeed, want to destroy Tripp. The PR department, in fact, had propagated rumors about Tripp: He was dangerous; he was involved in a conspiracy against Tesla; he was potentially homicidal.  The security team followed Tripp around, hacked his phone, and sent law enforcement down rabbit holes as they attempted to understand the issues. Tripp lost his job and left the country to get away from the nasty publicity, his life, ostensibly, ruined. [Read more…]

5,300 Wells Fargo employees were forced to resign or were fired amid a huge scandal involving hundreds of thousands of customers and millions of dollars. Meanwhile, a handful of employees filed a class action suit on behalf of thousands of employees against Wells Fargo because they had been demoted or even fired for refusing to participate in the bank’s deceptive practices.

The Wells Fargo Scandal and its Impact on Employees

Wells Fargo had a brilliant but highly illegal scheme to bolster its stock price. They used customers’ personal information gleaned from legitimate accounts to create false ones, unbeknownst to the customers. Suddenly Wells Fargo customers who had signed up for savings accounts found themselves paying fees for checking accounts they had never requested or authorized.  Wells Fargo customers were not the only victims here.

When employees refused to participate in the plot, or when they phoned into the ethics hotline to report the fraudulent actions, they claim they lost their jobs as a result.

Wells Fargo, on the other hand, asserts that no one was fired unless they were not meeting clear company goals. The bank claims to endeavor to create a culture of serving customers with stellar ethics and integrity.

Irrespective of Wells Fargo’s assertions, the class action suit alleges a number of legal violations, including Dodd-Frank and whistleblower protections afforded through Sarbanes-Oxley. Beyond the problems related to the fraud, the suit claims overtime intrusions in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Real People at Wells Fargo Who Were Hurt

Bill Bado is just one of the many employees whose career was destroyed by the fraudulent plan.  Bill refused to create phony pin numbers, fake accounts, and sham email accounts. He took matters a few steps further and called the ethics hotline. Then Bill emailed human resources to report the illegal and unethical practices going on all around him and that he was being ordered to carry out, as well. A short eight days later, Wells Fargo to respond with his untimely termination.  The reason given for the firing was tardiness.

Testimony before a Congressional committee suggests that Wells Fargo had methods to systematically get rid of whistleblowers and avoid accusations of retaliation. One such strategy involved the simple, yet effective practice of closely monitoring employees who had reported problems in the sales department. After looking closely enough, employees would inevitably be spotted with a fireable flaw, such as tardiness.

Heather Brock, a senior banker with Wells Fargo, experienced bullying, defamation of character, and false accusations before being fired from her post. Her belief is that the termination was a result of her complaints to the ethics line about illegal practices. [Read more…]