Former Sanofi Paralegal Claims She Was Fired for Whistleblowing

A former Sanofi paralegal in the US has sued the French pharmaceutical company, charging she was fired for alleging that the company had paid $34 million to convince doctors, hospitals and pharmacies to switch patients to its diabetes drugs.

Diane Ponte, who filed the lawsuit on Dec. 3 in a New Jersey state court, claimed that several Sanofi employees were involved in the kickback scheme, including former CEO Christopher Viehbacher, who was ousted on Oct. 29.

According to the lawsuit, Ponte worked in Sanofi's Bridgewater, New Jersey, office reviewing contracts for legal compliance. In March 2013, she said she discovered that nine contracts paying $34 million to accounting firm Deloitte and consulting firm Accenture were actually covers for kickbacks.

When Ponte did not immediately approve the contracts, a superior is said to have told her Viehbacher was "extremely unhappy," and the CEO ordered her to approve them.

In September 2013, Ponte was demoted to a position reporting to another paralegal, and in March she received her first-ever negative performance review, the lawsuit said. She was fired on Oct. 15.

Ponte is seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages for the loss of her job and her emotional distress under New Jersey's Conscientious Employee Protection Act, a law that protects whistle-blowers.

"The relationship between the termination of her employment and the whistle-blowing was blatant," Ponte's lawyer said. "Before the whistle-blowing activity, she had been a model employee."