Yes , she would have done the exact samething, how do I know this, she is my wife. We talked long and hard and lost sleep over the decision to try to make a difference. We risked our home and ended my wife’s 30 year career.
Good for her Jonathon. Someone needs to expose these weasels for what they are. Back in the day, banks and other large companies used to operate more ethically, but the age of Crony Capitalism has arrived and they have pulled all kinds of shenanigans for greed and are in bed with politicians who cater to them. Citi was one of many who were bailed out under TARP and what do they do but build a baseball stadium for the Mets with our money. What a joke.
I don’t think that is the question at all, if CITI was conducting business ethically there would have been no whistles to blow. Many of us lost substantial amounts, that we set aside for retirement, caused by irresponsible behavior by both private sector and government entities in the housing industry. Sherry Hunt deserves every cent, she went to the company first and they did nothing about her concerns.
$31 Million for doing the right thing? Shouldn’t doing the right thing be enough motivation for doing the right thing?
Very few people are willing to face consequences for taking a stand anymore. I’m not knocking the lady but, honestly, what did she have to lose? Whistleblowers are protected so she couldn’t get fired and the upside is millions of dollars.
I’m sick of bribing people to be ethical. It’s ridiculous.
Are you opposed to cash bonuses paid to employees when a business performs well and makes a profit? Under your way of thinking, an employee should not accept a bonus just for doing his job.
There are great risks involved in being a whistleblower. Remember Karen Silkwood? It can be very frightening to a low level worker who depends on his or her job to make ends meet (most of us) to come forward with accusations that your boss is doing something illegal.
I believe the whistle blowers are offered much greater protection than in the days of Karen Silkwood.
Do you think $31M for this is justified?
And, obviously, I know it’s not ‘bribery.’ I just wonder how many of these whistleblowers would do the same thing without the incentive of ridiculously great monetary gains. Sadly, I think the answer is very few.
I have to admit, $31 million sure sounds like a lot of money, but she’s not going to see anywhere near that amount once she gets done paying her taxes and attorneys fees. I don’t know whether they are paid on contigency or by the hour, but it will be a nice payday for them too.
February 17, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Former Status Quo says:
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being rewarded for doing a good job is not bribery. because the other side of the coin is doing a crap job and not getting a bonus or worse, being fired.
If the only benefit a whistleblower were to receive was the knowledge and satisfaction that they did the right thing then you would see very few instances. But if you put incentive there, and you tell them, “hey your job is protected and you’re going to get a big check,” then you’re having someone come forward not because they necessarily think it is wrong, but because they are going to get paid.
Let’s see if I understand this scenario. Citi was doing bad things in the mortgage business, get into financial trouble, get bailed out for billions and now get off for mere millions. Seems to me they came out pretty well on this.
Hillsborough: suggest you do some thorough investigation. You will find that most whistleblowers are not protected at all, are generally subjected to abuse,pressure and threats from management that does not want their misconduct revealed, and too often don’t get vindicated (even when they are correct) and give up the fight long before they can prevail against stronger company in denial. I think whistleblowers are entitled to every cent but not enough of them do carry on the fight. What I want to see is the top “managers” fired, barred from the industry forever, sued and stripped of their ill-gotten assets. I’m tired of losing money as a stockholder and taxpayer, bailing out companies run by immoral and or stupid “managers”.
In legal matters money is used to punish (penalties) or to reward. It’s just the way it is that money is a motivator in life. Large amounts of money (or money at all) is often offered for cases like this so that the illegal action or wrongdoing does indeed get reported. Whistle-blowers face having their reputation tainted and/or viewed as a problem employee so many don’t report wrongdoings for fear of that or worse. Money talks, BS walks………..
Worst mortgage company ever. That is all there is to say.
And yes I do know this is Citigroup Mortgage Insurance. But I have a score to level with Citi.
So she received $31 million and has no regrets? Totally shocking. Nobody saw that coming.
The question is: if there were no whistleblower reward, would she have done the same thing?
Yes , she would have done the exact samething, how do I know this, she is my wife. We talked long and hard and lost sleep over the decision to try to make a difference. We risked our home and ended my wife’s 30 year career.
Good for her Jonathon. Someone needs to expose these weasels for what they are. Back in the day, banks and other large companies used to operate more ethically, but the age of Crony Capitalism has arrived and they have pulled all kinds of shenanigans for greed and are in bed with politicians who cater to them. Citi was one of many who were bailed out under TARP and what do they do but build a baseball stadium for the Mets with our money. What a joke.
I don’t think that is the question at all, if CITI was conducting business ethically there would have been no whistles to blow. Many of us lost substantial amounts, that we set aside for retirement, caused by irresponsible behavior by both private sector and government entities in the housing industry. Sherry Hunt deserves every cent, she went to the company first and they did nothing about her concerns.
$31 Million for doing the right thing? Shouldn’t doing the right thing be enough motivation for doing the right thing?
Very few people are willing to face consequences for taking a stand anymore. I’m not knocking the lady but, honestly, what did she have to lose? Whistleblowers are protected so she couldn’t get fired and the upside is millions of dollars.
I’m sick of bribing people to be ethical. It’s ridiculous.
It’s not bribery at all. Bribery is illegal.
Are you opposed to cash bonuses paid to employees when a business performs well and makes a profit? Under your way of thinking, an employee should not accept a bonus just for doing his job.
There are great risks involved in being a whistleblower. Remember Karen Silkwood? It can be very frightening to a low level worker who depends on his or her job to make ends meet (most of us) to come forward with accusations that your boss is doing something illegal.
I believe the whistle blowers are offered much greater protection than in the days of Karen Silkwood.
Do you think $31M for this is justified?
And, obviously, I know it’s not ‘bribery.’ I just wonder how many of these whistleblowers would do the same thing without the incentive of ridiculously great monetary gains. Sadly, I think the answer is very few.
I have to admit, $31 million sure sounds like a lot of money, but she’s not going to see anywhere near that amount once she gets done paying her taxes and attorneys fees. I don’t know whether they are paid on contigency or by the hour, but it will be a nice payday for them too.
being rewarded for doing a good job is not bribery. because the other side of the coin is doing a crap job and not getting a bonus or worse, being fired.
If the only benefit a whistleblower were to receive was the knowledge and satisfaction that they did the right thing then you would see very few instances. But if you put incentive there, and you tell them, “hey your job is protected and you’re going to get a big check,” then you’re having someone come forward not because they necessarily think it is wrong, but because they are going to get paid.
Let’s see if I understand this scenario. Citi was doing bad things in the mortgage business, get into financial trouble, get bailed out for billions and now get off for mere millions. Seems to me they came out pretty well on this.
Hillsborough: suggest you do some thorough investigation. You will find that most whistleblowers are not protected at all, are generally subjected to abuse,pressure and threats from management that does not want their misconduct revealed, and too often don’t get vindicated (even when they are correct) and give up the fight long before they can prevail against stronger company in denial. I think whistleblowers are entitled to every cent but not enough of them do carry on the fight. What I want to see is the top “managers” fired, barred from the industry forever, sued and stripped of their ill-gotten assets. I’m tired of losing money as a stockholder and taxpayer, bailing out companies run by immoral and or stupid “managers”.
In legal matters money is used to punish (penalties) or to reward. It’s just the way it is that money is a motivator in life. Large amounts of money (or money at all) is often offered for cases like this so that the illegal action or wrongdoing does indeed get reported. Whistle-blowers face having their reputation tainted and/or viewed as a problem employee so many don’t report wrongdoings for fear of that or worse. Money talks, BS walks………..