Apple Whistleblower Ashley M. Gjøvik Files Explosive RICO Corruption Suit Against Apple

Apple Whistleblower Ashley M. Gjøvik Files Explosive RICO Corruption Suit Against Apple For Criminal Practices, Worker Retaliation and Collusion with Government Officials.

9/7/23

By Steve Zeltzer
WorkWeek, Pacifica
workweeknow [at] gmail.com

Apple senior engineering program manager Ashley M. Gjøvik has filed a Federal RICO lawsuit in San Francisco on September 7, 2023, against the Apple corporation for massive corrupt practices and criminal conspiracy to target her for exposing a superfund toxic dump site on her Apple office in Sunnyvale, California. She started work at Apple on February 23, 2015, and discovered that the office was sitting on top of a superfund site that was leaking dangerous toxins in the office.

She tried to get the company to clean it up and when they refused to act to clean it up she filed complaints with the State of California and Federal EPA. According to her testimony and interviews she faced a effort to terrorize her and drive her from the company. She also discovered that Apple was starting a new manufacturing facility that was also violating numerous health and safey codes.

In 2015, Apple started stealth semiconductor manufacturing and silicon fabrication activities in a facility located at 3250 Scott Boulevard Santa Clara California. Apple was cited for building, environmental, health/safety, and fire code violations in at least 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2020. The factory vented its exhaust of solvents and toxic gases less than 300 feet from a large apartment complex. Apple was involved in the decision to construct and use the plant for prototype silicon fabrication.

Apple also illegally spied on her using her phone without he knowledge and took explicit pictures and texts that were then stored by Apple managers. She was sickened also at an apartment which was on a Superfund groundwater plume and was also close to an Apple facility.

On September 9, 2021, she was fired by Apple and Apple security “Workplace Violence” investigator demanded to speak with her in an effort to intimidate her.

Also, her manager Ricky Mondello posted on twitter about the termination "Sometimes you fuck around. Sometimes you find out.“.

Apple has a long record of using former police, FBI and CIA employees in it’s operation to spy on employees and target members of the public who they suspect of threatening the security of the corporation. They called this operation the “Worldwide Loyalty Team"
Apple was also forced to delete illegally obtained data that they were collecting from the users of Apple phones including pictures and other data.

She had previously won a ruling by the NLRB that she had illegally been retaliated against for her legal rights to report health and safety issues. Gjovik also filed complaints about witness intimidation and witness retaliation not only to the NLRB but the US Dept of Labor and California Department of Labor in January 2022.

Apple also has hired top government officials to be in charge of their government relations including Lisa Jackson the former EPA administrator of the Obama administration and who is now vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives for the corporation.

Apple is also fighting Union organizing efforts by the IAM and CWA at Apple stores throughout the country and a victory in this suit would be an important step forward in protecting other workers and whistleblowers at the company.

There are plans to have a press conference at Apple’s facilities about the suit and also continue to pressure California governor Gavin Newsom and his agencies along with the California Attorney General Rob Bonta to take forward the investigation and prosecution of Apple for serious violations of health and safety protection for workers and residents and a massive cover-up of the dangers of hazards at Apple’s facilities located on Superfund sites in Silicon Valley.

The retaliation against Gjøvik is not unique. There are many thousands of health and safety whistleblowers who have been illegally terminated and government whistleblowers as well as government whistleblowers. Darrell Whitman was an federal lawyer and investigator with the whistleblower protection program. He was also a AFGE steward and delegate to the San Francico Labor Council. He was targeted as well for defending whistleblowers like Michael Madry for exposing the cover-up of the radioactive and toxic dangers at the Hunters Point Shipyard and Treasure Island. He and many other Federal and private whistleblowers have been working together to confront the systemic corruption in the government including Inspector General Offices which are supposed to investigate corruption and malfeasance of government officials.

The RICO complaint is available at
https://gjovik.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Gjovik-v-Apple-Complaint.pdf

Additional Media:

Additional Media:
The Union Busting War On Apple Workers & NLRB Ruling For Fired Apple Worker Ashley M. Gjøvik
https://youtu.be/ycxIbfO-pG0

US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh: Stop US DOL OSHA Whistleblower Corruption Now
https://www.change.org/p/marty-walsh-stop-us-dol-osha-whistleblower-corruption-now
http://justiceatapple.com/

Apple Toxic Is It Above The Law? With Whistleblower Ashley M. Gjøvik
https://youtu.be/cvxNLu7BhaI

Part II: My personal hellscape of conflicts of interest, obstruction, & arbitrary denials of due process continues…
https://ashleygjovik.substack.com/p/field-notes-on-regulatory-capture-c08

Apple Wanted Her Fired. It Settled on an Absurd Excuse
https://gizmodo.com/apple-wanted-her-fired-it-settled-on-an-absurd-excuse-1847868789

Apple Employee Blows Whistle on Illegal Spying and Toxic Working Conditions
https://truthout.org/articles/apple-employee-blows-whistle-on-illegal-spying-and-toxic-working-conditions/

Silicon Valley Chemical Contamination & Exposure
http://www.whatsintheair.org/silicon-valley.html

I thought I was dying: My apartment was built on toxic waste
https://sfbayview.com/2021/03/i-thought-i-was-dying-my-apartment-was-built-on-toxic-waste/

\The Corporate Capture Of OSHA & The US Government Corruption Cover-up
https://soundcloud.com/workweek-radio/ww-4-22-22-the-corporate-capture-of-osha-the-us-government-corruption-cover-up

WW 4-22-22 The Corporate Capture Of OSHA & The US Government Corruption Cover-up
https://soundcloud.com/workweek-radio/ww-4-22-22-the-corporate-capture-of-osha-the-us-government-corruption-cover-up

On Workers Memorial Day 2021 Former OSHA WPP Lawyer & Investigator Darrell Whitman Speaks Out!
https://youtu.be/9ZL9cSolNFw

OSHA Corruption, Cover-up & US Inspector Generals With OHSA Whistleblower & Lawyer Darrell Whitman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDPQpqmUq2k

OSHA Corruption, Cover-up & US Inspector Generals With OHSA Whistleblower & Lawyer Darrell Whitman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDPQpqmUq2k

OSHA, Corruption & The Capture of US Inspector Generals With Whistleblower Darrell Whitman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUVIu-Op8Wg&t=33s

The Office Of Special Counsel OSC, Corruption, Kerner & OSHA WPP Whistleblower Lawyer Whitman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCxYm65qwaI