NEWSPAPER BLOWS WHISTLE ON SAG WHISTLEBLOWER

Raising new questions about the stewardship of the Screen Actors Guild Pension and Health Plans, the former human resources director of the plans, who blew the whistle on fellow executives for allegedly using money from the funds for projects involving relatives and friends — and receiving kickbacks from them — has himself been linked to a similar practice. The Los Angeles Times, citing internal invoices and emails, reported today (Tuesday) that Craig Simmons hired his spouse’s marketing company for $25,000 to help develop a campaign to mark the 50th anniversary of the plans. Last month, Simmons filed a wrongful-termination complaint against the health plans, maintaining in part that he had been fired for uncovering the wrongdoing of his colleagues and for refusing to obey instructions to mislead investigators about the size of the losses from the kickbacks, which he said amounted to $5-10 million.