Whistleblowers: the corporate insiders who spoke out

Sherron Watkins: Enron Sherron Watkins , a vice-president at the energy trading company, sent a six-page email to top management in 2001 warning of risky financial practices, containing the infamous line: "I am incredibly nervous that we will implode in a wave of accounting scandals." Her concerns were largely dismissed by Enron's independent directors but she kept her job. After Enron went bust, she wrote a book about her experience, became one of Time magazine's people of the year and set up a consultancy advising companies on ethics. Andrew Millar: British Biotech The high-flying drug development company British Biotech sacked its head of clinical research, Andrew Millar , when he delved into the results of confidential clinical trials in 1998 over concerns that a key cancer treatment, Marimastat, did not work well and could be dangerous. British Biotech's market value plummeted and, after giving evidence before a parliamentary committee, he pursued a career elsewhere in the biotech industry. Paul Moore: HBOS Paul Moore , head of risk management at the bank, tried to warn his bosses about reckless consumer lending in 2004 and 2005. He was later fired . He took his case to an employment tribunal and settled for substantial damages. Three years later, HBOS slipped to the brink of collapse due to toxic lending and had to be rescued by Lloyds TSB. Moore got his revenge before a parliamentary committee, telling MPs that anyone "not blinded by money, power and pride" ought to have known something was wrong. Cynthia Cooper: WorldCom An internal auditor, Cynthia Cooper stumbled on some unusual accounting entries at the the telecoms companyin 2002 that provided the first inkling of one of the biggest corporate frauds in US history, amounting to $3.8bn. The results of her investigation, reported to the firm's audit committee, helped put the chief executive, Bernie Ebbers, and Scott Sullivan, chief financial officer, in jail. She left WorldCom in 2004 and published a book about her experience as a whistleblower in 2008 and has become a motivational speaker.