Add to this a TV personality and courtroom drama that can be observed by millions and you can expect to make even more money. In particular, being a judge represents not only a significant amount of income but also prospects regarding future earning potentials. I think the least we can do is showcase the heroes that they are.Some of the best-paid individuals are those who hold power over others. For years I think we've been going in the opposite direction where we shrug our shoulders, we've heard about it before and we're like, "Oh well, more of the same." I think we can turn this around and when people see these whistleblowers and how they put everything on the line just to do the right thing, I think it's going to really encourage people to do the same. When we know that there's theft and wrongdoing going on that we put a stop to it - that's moving the country in the right direction. Aside from recouping all that lost money - what do you want people to take away from this show?ĪF: I would like for this show to have the effect of turning all of us into a national posse. MW: I think most people would certainly be on board for that. I'd like to get that $300 billion and put it towards our national debt. There's between about 100 and 300 billions dollars stolen yearly from the U.S. They're going to have to worry about who here in my company who knows what I'm doing is going to blow the whistle and that can have a very positive effect. That has a cleansing effect on society, corporations aren't going to be able to continue to do this in darkness and hide their misdeeds. It's going to lead to more people coming forward and doing the right thing. I don't care if you're a millennial or a baby boomer - nobody likes corporate greed, nobody likes companies stealing from all of us. I think that the public sees other people who know of wrongdoing coming forward and calling out corporate greed. This is not a new concept, the whistleblower concept has been around since Abraham Lincoln - in fact the law that allows for compensation is referred to as Lincoln's Law.Įvery year there are about 800 whistleblower cases brought. I think this is the perfect time to showcase these individuals who have been doing this for so long. MW: Why did you feel like now was the right time to make this show?ĪF: This is a time in America where everybody is demanding accountability, whether it's the #MeToo movement or just social media in general - people get called out now for wrong doing whereas before people would just shrug and it would slide under the radar. MW: This can even give people the motivation to step forward themselves. One person can make a big difference and I think that people are going to really enjoy seeing these heroes. We've had whistleblowers who've received millions, tens of millions, even some over a hundred million dollars because they get to share in the recovery of compensation that the government gets.įor those people who say, "An individual can't do anything, what am I going to do? I'm one person against a big corporation." In our first show we have a whistleblower who is personally responsible, just him, for his employer paying back the U.S. They do it because it's the right thing to do and then they're surprised to find out that if they prevail in the whistleblower lawsuit they can receive a substantial reward. There is a law out there that allows for whistleblowers to be compensated and what I love about this is that these whistleblowers, when they decide to blow the whistle, don't even know there's the possibility of a reward. You feel for them in that respect and you can relate to them. We've had whistleblowers who lose their homes, sometimes lose their marriage because they came forward and did the right thing. So many people say, "Well that's wrong but I need a paycheck - I've got kids to raise, I've got a mortgage to pay," all of us do and these people really often suffer greatly. When you watch this show you're going to feel for these individuals who, at great personal risk they came forward and basically threw away their job, often threw away their career, because they were working for somebody who was stealing from all of us and they weren't going to sit back and let it happen. So I paired up with CBS - my partner Ted Eccles and I brought it to CBS and they just fined tuned it to a gem of a show. It's lead me to really focus on the fact that the stories of whistleblowers, what they go through and what they do for us, are fascinating stories. But I'm still an attorney, I have a law practice and part of what I do is whistleblower work. AF: Well most people who watch Judge Alex know that I was a police officer at a very young age and then an attorney and then a judge before I started doing the TV show.
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