BofA Poohs on CountryWide WhistleBlower; Making Sure He Doesn't Get a Dime of $3.8 Award.

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Government Accountability Project (GAP) website has a 3 part series on CountryWide whistle-blower Winston; and how he was ostracized, retaliated upon - won a jury verdict of $3.8 million (which he will probably never see).

You can see my original DU thread on this, from last week - (here). It is titled "Whistleblower who 'Conquered' Countrywide, Being Retaliated Upon". In it, I point out the pains of being a whistleblower and corporation ostracizing; though SALON's David Dayen called Mr. Winston "Wall Streets Greatest Enemy".

The truth is - It ain't easy to take down big sleazies - and when you do; pooh pooh on you!
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Whistleblower Winston Awarded $3.8 million that BofA is making sure he will never see
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As Michael Winston details in his 2nd part, of the GAP Whistleblower.org 3 part series titled "Jury Decision"; he was awarded $3.8 million dollars by the jury. Unfortunately, the case didn't end there. As pointed out in the New York Times article "Countrywide Ex Exec Still Waiting on $3.8 million award", Countrywide lied during the case, punished/intimidated witnesses and did perjury about where other witnesses were.

As Mr. Winston puts it;

In early 2011, 12 jurors listened and watched for nearly one month, hearing about and seeing proof of more than 80 adverse employment actions taken against me by Countrywide over a two-year period, starting immediately after my alert to Cal-OSHA about dangerous conditions of a "sick building and ratcheting up again when I refused to lie on CFC’s behalf to Moody’s Investor Service." The jury heard and saw proof that dozens of people complained of difficulty breathing, headache and stomachache, a metallic taste in their mouths and dizziness. Many sought medical attention for these sudden conditions. The jury also saw proof that I had sought mitigation from every level internally at Countrywide before contacting OSHA. It was only when I saw proof of their intent to cover-up – not mitigate – the environmental hazards that I took action. Many witnesses testified that my team and I were retaliated against. The jury heard this. Such retaliation was blatant, relentless and done in plain sight.

What I observed and felt during the trial was absolutely shocking. In my opinion, the judge and jury were subjected to a palpable and unending litany of lies, document alterations and total fabrication of documents. The manipulation of the facts was extreme, blatant and unrelenting. The number of misrepresentations strung together consecutively was startling.

These officers also, in my opinion, committed witness tampering by offering a job to a witness – after they saw her name on our witness list – to entice her not to testify. She was fired only weeks after offering what turned out to be supportive testimony for me. BofA defendants and their lawyers claimed that several other witnesses no longer worked for the company, but it was later proven they all did. Lastly, they falsely asserted that documents or parts of documents were mine. I had never seen them, let alone written them.

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STUNNING REVERSAL - Appeals Court Overturns Jury Decision

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In the final (3rd part) of the GAP story series titled "Stunning Reversal", whistleblower Michael Winston points out that the Appellate Court reversed the award and stated that there was no proper evidence against BofA; and that BofA wasn't culpable for Countrywides bad faith.

As corroboration of arrant logic by the Circuit Court, Mr. Winston actually has attorneys at law coming out in his favor; who are publicly stating the Appellate Court is acting contrary to law.

While such support is commendable; the fact of the matter is - it doesn't make a difference;
now Mr. Winston must appeal the Appellate Court's ruling.

Good luck with that!

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Many Troubling Matters

Chances are most of you have no idea that one of the greatest writers and influence persons of our country (Thomas Paine) actually died a pauper and had less than a dozen people attend his funeral. The truth is the world cares little for the valiant nobles who are thrust by happenstance into troubling matters surreal. Apparently, most don't really give a dang what you lose in your battle against tyranny, cronyism and corruption; because gas is always threatening to go to $10 a gallon and people can't get a guarantee for $10 an hour (when it takes 2 gallons a day to go to work and back).

It sucks being a whistleblower/ fighter for justice - and it ALWAYS will be that way.

Whether or not you believe in g0d(s) and/or ying-yang, good v ebol; the fact of the matter is, glory comes from courage, strife and valiant efforts that are extraordinarily rare. We are endeared, for a few moments, by movie screen heroes and/or writers who point out David v Goliath struggles that most people would never even think to deal with.

As for me, I'm living the battles same as Mr. Winston; though doing so by different dynamics. In taking on Romney, Bain Cap and Goldman Sachs, I'm well aware of the long shots of even having a chance to win; and the fact that (should I succeed for a moment) the powers that be can't ever allowed me to be compensated.

Oligarch's and Eric Holders of the world, simply can't ever allow whistleblowing to become worthwhile!

Be that as it may, there are many people who were held accountable and/or halted from doing further skulduggery; due to Michael Winston's efforts. As in my eToys v Romney (actually "HAAS v ROMNEY" for Racketeering) cases; the fact is most warriors against injustice never get the credit they're due. If I were really in it for the money; I would have taken the bribe offer to become Romney's partner in 2001.

I encourage Mr. Winston to pursue the cause for justice; and pray it also encourages others to do so - too. Meanwhile, he'll have to take solace in the fact that many a crime hasn't occurred; because he stepped out of the normal lines - taking his sense of probity to the fore. The crimes that Countrywide and/or BofA are now forbidden to try, unfortunately can never be measured.

I'll just give Mr. Wintson a few examples of what he should be thankful for.

In our eToys case v Mitt Romney: Traub Bonacquist & Fox, Dewey LeBeouf (mostly due to efforts of BankruptcyMisconduct.com), Hutchins Wheeler and Dreier LLP law firms are no longer in business. Larry Reynolds, Mike Catain, Frank Vennes, White, Coleman, Bell, Dreier and Petters, along with more than a dozen cohorts - are all in jail. The number of people who quit the DOJ, were promoted off the case and those that took bribes are unfathomable. Homicides (at least currently) - in my related cases - have ceased since 2010. That is what we've done with just a few whistleblowers.

You - Michael Winston - have GAP and others with you; please don't squander this great opportunity on the fact that a corrupt court system - having no morals or ethics - engaged in corruption. For, many things can and do happen when David's sling a pebble toward tyranny, cronyism and corruption.

Doesn't matter who gets the credit (history remembers very few issues of Generals winning the war - only that the war was won); all that matters is cause your engaged in and "if" your efforts have any effects (visible or otherwise).

Rolling Stone Taibbi gave me zero credit for his "Greed and Debt" story. And though RS intentionally left out the eToys part (which ties it all into racketeering); the fact of the matter is the story went viral and the effect is awesome. Similarly, the NY Times took my constant badgering resulting in an eToys piece (that wasn't titled eToys) as Joe Nocera posted a March 2013 OpEd story "Rigging the I.P.O. Game"; which resulted in Bain Cap. cancelling the IPO of Toys R Us (just a few weeks thereafter).

And there's the biggie - of course - that no one will ever give credit where it is due; but the fact of the matter is, in 2012

Pitten's didn't make it!

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Carry on Michael Winston you are entitled to your money and have the right to fight for it (wonder if SEC David Weber was ever paid his award {which wasn't a whistleblower case in name - but in Reality). No matter who gets the credit, your works are making a difference.; and you need not worry about knowing who I am or ever coming to my funeral

---------------------------- The way you have lived and are living your life is all the attention to things any of U.S. needs![br]

For what it's worth - you have my heart felt adoration and deep respect!

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1. k&r...

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2. Thanks "spanone"

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3. K k& R

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4. Appreciate that 'Quantess'

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5. I've reached out to the writers of stories related and attorneys.

Can't seem to find a link to Michael Winston himself...