for fight, continued john curiosity. welcome to the whistle blower, the . 2 2 2 2 2 1 of the most dramatic and damaging things that a person can experience is a sexual assault. the loss of a sense of safety, the distrust of one's surroundings and the palpable fear that it could happen again are almost too much to handle. what a cell victims need is support the help and cooperation of law enforcement. a friendly ear, perhaps even a psychologist or psychiatrist to help the victim work her way through the experience. but what happens when that system breaks down? what happens when a company that has a role in the protection of the victim acts and unethical, or perhaps even illegal way? that's when whistles are blown. nicole stevens was a victim of a violent assault where she was raped and strangled nearly to death. for injuries

were so severe that she was placed on medical disability through that experience she was and continues to be treated with dignity and respect by her insure capital alliance, which is a part of south africa's largest ensure called liberty group. during the course of her disability, nicole became a domestic violence and civil society activist in 2020, another victim of assault reached out to her to ask for her help in processing a disability claim with the insurance company discovery life. and she met with a companies legal director and a forensic investigator and was able to help her client receive his disability payment. the company's treatment of this client, however, was unacceptable. and nicole believe that it was an ethical and possibly illegal as well. nicole then sought out other victims by a social media finding that many of them experienced the same unethical and illegal behavior at the hands of discovery. she now represents 7 clients as an advocate,

and she's assisting another 12 people in a class action suit. you're probably asking what this on ethical and illegal behavior is. well, simply put it's fraud. many of the victims have put their trust in discovery and many invested their life savings. the funds were invested with discovery, invest the company's investment arm, the broker with whom the funds were invested, was warned repeatedly that his work was not compliant with the law. but instead of correcting course, the broker disappeared. and he took all of his victims money with him. criminal and civil actions are currently pending. nicole now holds online domestic violence support group meetings that are open to all. she also assists victims in obtaining orders of protection, exit plans and other domestic violence support. and she does all of this for free. she knows 1st hand when the victim needs that friendly faced. it's nicole stevens.

thank you so much for being with us. we're happy to have you. thank you so much john, for having me as one of your gifts. it is truly an honor. nicole, let's start with the event. i'm going to assume change the course of the rest of your life. can you tell us what happened to you and how it motivated you to help others in need? is sure. and john, i was the area manager of an international retailer and i was in a domestic violence. so we, i was right. and the strangled illness today. i'm sorry, i do suffer from p t s d store and it still makes me very overwhelmed talking about it. what happened was other than the, the, the, the coming months off to the assault and the wheels at work started for the move.

and i, i basically lost my memory, and one of the incidences was i was driving on the hallway and i literally stopped in the hallway, not doing where i was, where i was going. and that in itself is traumatic. and so i, i switch the services of specialists, lack urologist and, and as a specialist to try and figure out what was wrong with me. well, that being assaulted, i had or blocked the entire incident out of my mind. so at that time i didn't know what is going on with me. so i was going through the motions of seeing specialists to find out why i couldn't recall woods memory was, was gone. and i was subsequently diagnosed with cedar dementia,

which is a type of dimensions those both on by severe depression. and during that time i was been placed on team pre disability. and a few months of to that, the physical co math and the damage started 2 years, i hit, i suffered multiple levels spawn damage from my cervical rest of the numbers cycle. and they will 9 minutes of now and bladder in confidence. i would just lose control as well as sporadic episodes of parenthesis from the whitestone. so it was the, the main. so how does that logical for man and their object was the physical trauma that, that came. and it was during this period that because

the told me i was having a lot of day to go and i'm for then and monday the office to take me to the hospital for me. surgery. and my neighbor said to me, none of the timing of the the rain and in the recovery when i was in the woods, and i look to see to what he's talking about. and she actually explained to me the assault in her. she says, ma, and it was as if i'm really insightful american. both of the is the memories have come back and this year, not united states of them have english storage. and i think i've become a christian again, and i think it's below its way of protecting me for those 4 years to, to show psychologically and possibly physically or do sesa in order

to get me to this place where i can be of service to other people in similar situations, you had a positive experience when dealing with the liberty group, the big insurance company. did it occurred to you at the time that you were having your case process that that there were a lot of other people out there who were not having a positive experience? what made you get involved with insurance companies? was it when that 1st client approached you june the entire process from, from the 1st i was booked off and hospitalized till last july, when the insurance company. and it's one of the largest, if not the best in south africa, another to quit. and they completed it was permanent and it's not been approved happens over time. and what day, whichever is the india and no ones do that ever realize that other people were going through obviously i was going through my format. i was

being treated with the utmost dignity and respect and compassion and c j no time in my disability. i've been detained agenda based robins at to best and out through social media. somebody approached me and said that he was in a projected a full yeah. and claim process with discovery law. and when he explained to me what he had gone through, i was in complete disbelief because that was not what i've been accustomed to and, and, and it was not my experience. and, and one of my links in posts that you referred to it as, as it must be a movie, because it has all the trimmings of, of a mafia movie in, in hong discovery that has dealt with the disability clips from

fraudulent documentation, effective date certificate. that they supplied a hospital in order to get medical records for the 2 bribing, extortion, and human rights violations. so my experience was completely different. you to when i was faced approached the experiences that your clients have had with discovery were certainly not like your own experience. at liberty group, what you've described happening there quite simply is a ponzi scheme and there were warnings, but that was what was happening. tell us how this happened and what are the criminal and civil actions being taken to correct it. what i also can't you to believe is through a group of 12 investors who invested the last 2nd some, some of them who, who went on the time and gave the, the pension of i and,

and visited with the broker of discovery invest. it's the same company, just a different division, like discovery loss and of the warning signs with bay for discovery. and yet they blatantly ignored us. they were the broker. but these cons dealt with his documentation has to be accordance in accordance with certain legislative requirements in terms of compliance on documentation that is needed to be filled out, etc, etc. and this broker was wanting to numerous times that his commission would, would be stopped if he didn't get his house in order with, with the photograph it really, really i get angry because with my abuse, i don't take kindly to any type of abuse whether it's spousal partner cobra,

i've got a major problem with and when it came, she to discovery investigating the case of the investments it was brought to their attention in december 2021. and on numerous occasions again in january 2022 and i must be correct. box fence be corrected. must be the same between each 20 into january 2021. and the forensic investigator. any visits at this time to head touch to, to get information about his money. this investigator une sold this this time in february. and it was clear from the opposite that the broker had run away with a fence and it wasn't just the one. it was many others and the total of which is

approximately 18, monday and rent. so in the exchange rates, it's probably about a $1000000.00. a discovery only opened criminal charges in may. some 3 or 4 months later, it was just the lexi days and co mana in which they dealt with the broker. they never locked down his office, they didn't confiscates any of his documentation. they didn't call in the police services immediately with they could have done a full forensic audits and taken his laptops. what of that? nothing was done. it was done months later. and unfortunately, to this day, this book is still free and he hasn't been arrested. and i am going to take the administrative actions against the investigation because i feel that it is, it's definitely felt these invasive. some of them have been left on government

grounds, which is a measly $1800.00 grand a month in which to that. so it's really, it's data stating what has taken place. it seems to me, nicole, that without a formal structure behind you, it would be easy to get lost and the number of people who need help. you're helping these people out of the goodness of your heart. and john, that you know, i have to deal with my health test, and i'm so fortunate in order to earn an income because of my disability and, and what i went through and that is put me in this position in order to help people save charge. i don't charge anything and it does become overwhelming, especially on those really tough days for me with my health. and

fortunately, the discovery times that i'm assist uh well aware of my issues and, and my health concerns and they're very supportive and you know, oh, with that often one day and i'll be mand down for a week, and i won't be able to do much. it will take me that long to recover. so it's as and when, and also on the lines on the traditional system. so when i receive communications, i have to act and sometimes it's on a bit. and sometimes of some of that day, it is overwhelming. it's nicole, please stay with us. we're going to take a short break and when we come back we'll talk about the broader scene for which the blowing in south africa speak to. 2 2

2 2 the, the russian states never as tight as i'm one of the most sense community best ingles, all sense and up the in the system must be the one else holes. question about this, even though we will fan in the european union, the kremlin media mission, the state on russia to day and split the ortiz full neck team and our video agency, roughly all the band on youtube tv services for the question, did you say from stephen closer to the

you don't help any human being collective or individual with a password to having their most basic needs and the status of

a sense of identity. a sense of meaning security flies in the middle east applies russell wise in the west. if you don't do that, you will have. com the, the welcome back to the best employers. i'm john kerry. i could were speaking with nicole stevens whistleblower from south africa who drew strength from a terrible incident of domestic violence and use that experience to help others. good to have you with us. nicole. thank you john. i wanted to ask you a general question about whistle blowing in south africa. we've actually had more than several south african whistle blowers here on the show. and one of the complaints that they have that is consistent is that there is not only little govern mental support for whistle blowers, but the government is sometimes so hostile toward whistle blowers as to make the

situation personally dangerous for them. has that been your experience at all or have you received government support for what you do? that's a great question. john, being a whistle blower for another division of discovery limits that is the discovery health. and so it's not the case i can discuss because it is confidential at this stage, and it is still very sensitive. but i've been extremely fortunate to have the regulatory bodies that overseas, the medical schemes in south africa i've, i've had not, i need the support that i've had the youth, especially investigations unit, the n p a, the national prosecution authority, as well as, as a government bodies as supporting the a 100 students in facts, a 150 percent, i've been extremely placed to have the people working with me on that was hoping

that in case when it comes to the discovery off a discovery loss. and an of my opinion is that there is a road unit operating within discovery last because they do not k for anything within the know that operates on the on functions and conditions they use cause it's and other developments on the disability cons. and this is often they've cancelled the contract and they have even used policeman is to do the surveillance on the on times, which is absolutely disgraceful. so what i've done is with the disability with is we've now gone and reported the police to the regulatory party,

which is back your i a so independent and i a so i think i think it's internal space or out is i pitch. that's the independent director of investigation. i'm sorry, i'm at a loss. so it's, this is my, my cognitive thinking. i put is the regulatory body for the police services. yeah. and it's been, it's been really tough because we've had an investigator with i've been investigating these cases against discovery. and we have now found that the executive director of i page is now contributing with discovery loss in charging this investigator. i was investigating this,

these charges of the police, me getting discoveries work in terms of surveillance. so what i have done is i have now reported this to the parliamentary committee for police and as well as the financial state to conduct a guarantee, as well as the reserve bank. and they oversee the insurance industry as well as that piece on that side. another issue that's been consistent among south african whistle blowers is that prosecutors have not bought into the idea that whistle blowers are exposing violations of the law. and often times the whistle blowers find themselves in legal jeopardy when they go public. in fact, some of them have had to go into hiding or have had to leave the country. have you experienced any of this kind of retaliation? what's my experience? we've had the prosecutors on board. the problem is,

is the discovery seemed to insinuate themselves into the investigations at some level of the investigation or the prosecution. and i can say the persecution because that is unfounded at this stage. batch and sorry, i lost my train of thought. and in terms that has actually been on board in terms of retaliation for me, has actually been directly from discovery and discovery health. i've received a, an attorney's letter wanting me to refrain to which i have responded, stating that what i speak of is actually factual. and cannot be seen as any

type of different nation. it is or in the public space, whether it's quote judgements of that nature. literally just from the ombudsman and i've had of age threats as well of my life, which i have been in touch with the uh, the witness program with with protection programs. and we have spoken about it. and at this stage i don't feel it's necessary and i still have a child who is at home. so i know that that sounds a bit strange, but the space is not, is not viable for me to go and see what this protection at the stage. what kind of support have you and other south african whistle blowers received from whistleblower organizations here in the united states. we're fortunate to have things like the national whistleblower center whistle blowers of america,

the government accountability project and myriad other organizations for support in europe. there are also a lot of similar organizations, but what's the situation in south africa? who would you turn to for support? uh, john, the that's, that's a really great question. um, you know, with the lots of some, just on po, june bellamy and apple williams that they would and then whistle blowers in general, which would approach the whistle blow. his house is equipped to deal and to support with others, whether it be for legal representation or accommodation, lots of income because of on the loss of work because of the wants of living. so we have to was looking at his house, which is a great organization. they really do great with. finally, nicole,

what advice would you give to whistle blowers and to would be whistle blowers who come to you for guidance? how can they protect their interests? the, the biggest obstacle a whistle blower has, is to, is to type information that they have and to, to follow the route of the legal risk. so my advice would be to to seek the advice of an attorney, number one, and to seek out the relevant regulatory bodies who to update you protects them as well as to enforce the no, i'm so to typically be protected on the legal side and also to be aware of your surroundings because you never know whose toes you step on and what threats they are off. they. nicole, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story. it's stories like these

that we live to tell to help bring clarity. and more importantly, healing. thank you to hello give, ron, the greedy gyptian writer and philosopher one says, quote, can you give button little when you give of your possessions it is when you give of yourself that you truly get and pablo picasso. arguably, the greatest artist of the 20th century said that quote, the meaning of life is to find your gift for the purpose of life is to give it away . i want to thank our guests nicole stevens for joining us today and for her strength and heroism. in helping others and thanks to our viewers for joining us for another episode of the list of lowers, i'm john curiosity. we will see you next time the. 2 2 2 2 2 the

more expensive and i'm here to plan with you. whatever you do, do not watch my new show. seriously. why watch something that's so different whitelisted of opinions that he won't get anywhere else. welcome to please, or do you have the state department c i a weapons, bankers, multi 1000000000 dollar corporations. choose your facts for you. go ahead. change and whatever you do. don't marshall stay main street because i'm probably going to make you uncomfortable. my show is called stretching time, but again,

it's not. we don't want to watch it because it might just change the waiting. thank the in 1881 began to expand its property in north africa, france decided to attack and easy. the invasion began with the bomb bartman of the french fleet on coastal cities and was followed by sending in the ground through the french easily occupied one of the key cities these urging and the bay of doing this bomb at the 3rd us deep agreed to humiliating negotiations the bartow trade, he concluded with a colonialist, establishing a project to rid of france, overton easier. however, the people up to an easy, i would not surrender to the enemy. at the call of the islamic clergy,

the june easy as rose to a holy war against the invaders. the soldiers of the bays army also joined the resistance. the french troops did not get an easy walk. vieira patriots bought desperately, but failed to defeat a huge and well armed army, which was supported by the strongest sleep. within a year the rebels were defeated. this turned out to be a real tragedy for the country. about one 7th of the population together with the fighters left for neighboring libya. thousands of people died during the warfare. the french flag was raised over to an easy. the colonial authorities tried to deprive the country of its air of identity and populated with european settling such an easy instead now brought up with the loss of freedom era. patriots had been fighting against french colonialism for decades until to an easier game. the independence in 1956

the to sell easy, but for today to buy on mine can never just define the collective punishment of the policy and keep us on as well face. in fact, class out the web security council off to washington. the toast, a piece by resolution, as part of science has move in $17000.00 and couple ready being killed. hundreds of new cars, raleigh, and might have to pull in front of me to an end to end to monitor the u. s. government stopped supporting as well and it makes me very shamed by government is doing this in mind. and i would like to say no more fun. no more what.