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Well, here I am. Whistleblowing. Unemployed. Nothing and no one to support me. Suffering from C-PTSD every day. Unable to sleep at night, because I may be murde

Well, here I am. Whistleblowing. Unemployed. Nothing and no one to support me. Suffering from C-PTSD every day. Unable to sleep at night, because I may be murdered for reporting a potential billion-dollar money laundering scheme. Fearing to even write this, but I feel compelled to, because I have nothing else. I've gone days without sleep. Woken up afraid for my life. My future. Knowing I may never work again. I may never be employed again. I may be on the street. Homeless. Unable to trust anyone ever again. There's no one. No one. Do you understand that? I'd happily have a union to protect me right now. My life may be over because there isn't one. What about people who want to do the right thing and so they are crushed by evil? Do you know how much literature there is out there about blowing the whistle? Do you know how many people are in prison right now for it? Being tortured every day. Julian Assange. Chelsea Manning. Karen Silkwood was poisoned and probably murdered and she was a leader in a union. What about them? Who is protecting them? Who protected them? No one. They are going to live a life of torture and die in prison because of the truth. Who is protecting the truth? Who is enabling the truth to exist? I spoke up and had to do it, I had to, I couldn't not do it, despite the very real threat that I might be murdered in my sleep. I can't stand to see this happening around me every day. I can't do it anymore. I don't think people really know. I don't think you really know. This isn't a movie to me.

yummypaint 6y ago
You might consider setting up a dead man's switch to do an automatic document dump if the worst happens, but don't tell anyone about it. A notarized affadavid stating the situation and your concerns for your safety might be appropriate to include. Your lawyer could also do the equivalent for you. Publicity might offer some protection. Try to make your demise a poor business proposition for the criminals. Thank you for doing the right thing. It's heartening to hear that there are still people out there who live with integrity.
galaxyLogic 6y ago
I don't know your situation but I imagine if I was in such I would try to contact as many left of center media outlets to get the story out. Also seek help from American Civil Liberties Union, whistle-blowing is a civil liberty.
dmerks 6y ago
Sacrificing oneself for a chance at exposing a story may not be worth the risk? We hear of anonymous sources all the time that make it, don't we? Perhaps there are other ways to bring on change. I hope whomever you denounced doesn't consider you a threat anymore. I hope you manage to overcome the PTSD. Seek help if you can, if you haven't already.
icedchai 6y ago
What sort of fraud was it? You don't need to name the company or anything, just interested in the general nature.
ry454 6y ago
You're way too emotional. I'd suggest to read the often recommended on HN small book "The Gervais Principle" to understand how most organizations work. And calibrate your emotions, seriously: the more energy you invest in them, the stronger they become. Recognizing the right thing is good, but not enough. What you did is you went to the forest to teach wolves good manners and got almost eaten alive, but wolves are wolves and you can't blame them. A better approach would be to undermine the project from inside. They tell you to implement a fraud scheme? Fine. You appear very professional, knowledgeable and volunteer to coordinate the project, while secretly you add subtle, but serious cracks in the foundation, and document the process for the future litigation. You say you reported it to the gov eventually. I'd contact FBI, again secretly, work with them to gather information, install a couple legal landmines and leave with a plausible cause half a year before the ship is scheduled to sink.
- purrplexed 6y ago
  And you lack empathy. *Funny this was flagged as the parent comment was equally inflammatory.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
thimkerbell 6y ago
Find an attorney? occrp.org? And find a way that you can feel enough at peace that you can get some sleep. This writing (though it may be real) is setting off my BS meter.
- thimkerbell 6y ago
  (3 minutes later, at the ungodly hour of almost 1am EDT, our attention swivels to the president (Trump) as he announces the results of his&wife's COVID test results...)

yummypaint 6y ago

You might consider setting up a dead man's switch to do an automatic document dump if the worst happens, but don't tell anyone about it. A notarized affadavid stating the situation and your concerns for your safety might be appropriate to include. Your lawyer could also do the equivalent for you. Publicity might offer some protection. Try to make your demise a poor business proposition for the criminals. Thank you for doing the right thing. It's heartening to hear that there are still people out there who live with integrity.

galaxyLogic 6y ago

I don't know your situation but I imagine if I was in such I would try to contact as many left of center media outlets to get the story out. Also seek help from American Civil Liberties Union, whistle-blowing is a civil liberty.

dmerks 6y ago

Sacrificing oneself for a chance at exposing a story may not be worth the risk? We hear of anonymous sources all the time that make it, don't we? Perhaps there are other ways to bring on change. I hope whomever you denounced doesn't consider you a threat anymore. I hope you manage to overcome the PTSD. Seek help if you can, if you haven't already.

icedchai 6y ago

What sort of fraud was it? You don't need to name the company or anything, just interested in the general nature.

ry454 6y ago

You're way too emotional. I'd suggest to read the often recommended on HN small book "The Gervais Principle" to understand how most organizations work. And calibrate your emotions, seriously: the more energy you invest in them, the stronger they become. Recognizing the right thing is good, but not enough. What you did is you went to the forest to teach wolves good manners and got almost eaten alive, but wolves are wolves and you can't blame them. A better approach would be to undermine the project from inside. They tell you to implement a fraud scheme? Fine. You appear very professional, knowledgeable and volunteer to coordinate the project, while secretly you add subtle, but serious cracks in the foundation, and document the process for the future litigation. You say you reported it to the gov eventually. I'd contact FBI, again secretly, work with them to gather information, install a couple legal landmines and leave with a plausible cause half a year before the ship is scheduled to sink.

purrplexed 6y ago
And you lack empathy. *Funny this was flagged as the parent comment was equally inflammatory.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

thimkerbell 6y ago

Find an attorney? occrp.org? And find a way that you can feel enough at peace that you can get some sleep. This writing (though it may be real) is setting off my BS meter.

thimkerbell 6y ago
(3 minutes later, at the ungodly hour of almost 1am EDT, our attention swivels to the president (Trump) as he announces the results of his&wife's COVID test results...)