Meet the Whistleblowers Who Warned of the Impending Financial Crash But Were Ignored

By Eyal Press, TomDispatch.com
Posted on March 6, 2012, Printed on March 10, 2012

What’s worse: to be persecuted and indicted for trying to expose an act of wrongdoing -- or to be ignored for doing so?

Whistleblowers have been under intense scrutiny in Washington lately, at least when it comes to the national security state.  In recent years, the Obama administration has set a record by accusing no fewer than six government employees, who allegedly leaked classified information to reporters, of violating the Espionage Act, a draconian law dating back to 1917.  Yet when it comes to workers who have risked their careers to expose misconduct in the corporate and financial arena, a different pattern has long prevailed.  Here, the problem hasn’t been an excess of attention from government officials eager to chill dissent, but a dearth of attention that has often left whistleblowers feeling no less isolated and discouraged.