Kardell Law Group client played a central role in whistleblower case against ZTE

DALLAS - May 23, 2018 - PRLog -- With the Trump Administration's recent call to ease sanctions against the ZTE Corp., a Chinese global provider of mobile phones, Dallas whistleblower attorney Steve Kardell was reminded of the emotional and financial costs his client Ashley Yablon suffered for bringing ZTE's corrupt practices to light six years earlier. In 2011, Yablon was hired as general counsel for ZTE USA. A month into his job, however, he learned that ZTE Corp. was being investigated for selling U.S. equipment to Iran in violation of American and international sanctions. When Yablon was asked by an in-house compliance lawyer in China to set up shell companies so that ZTE could "legally" sell U.S. equipment to Iran, he knew he had to take action. And that's how he became a whistleblower, represented by Kardell in Dallas. Thanks in part to Yablon's courage to come forth, ZTE eventually pleaded guilty to illegally selling surveillance and communications equipment to Iran and was ordered to pay more than a billion dollars in criminal and civil penalties.

According to Steve Kardell, Yablon could not turn a blind eye to what was going on at ZTE. After agreeing to cooperate in the FBI's investigation into the company, he faced repercussions that included having his phone and computer taken away and an employee placed across the hall from his office to keep tabs on him. In a recent interview, Kardell said Yablon's experience standing up to the telecom giant "reads like a John Grisham novel" and recalled that his client faced "an ethical quandary and professional nightmare that most in-house lawyers could never imagine." According to Kardell, clients such as Yablon, who risk all to expose the truth, make him proud to be an advocate.

About the firm

For more than 35 years, Steve Kardell, a partner in Dallas-based Kardell Law Group, has protected corporate executives from misdirected internal investigations while also protecting clients against employer retaliation in whistleblower law cases, securing major settlements for those unnecessarily made the targets of difficult and draining internal investigations.

In addition to representing clients in his legal practice, Mr. Kardell, a recognized authority in his field and the author of Whistleblower and Bounty Law, has developed corporate ethics programs for major multinational corporations. He frequently lectures on whistleblower law and internal investigations at law schools and in continuing legal education courses.

For more information about Steve Kardell's practice, visit the firm's website