This report is an exclusive for The Current Report and TNT Radio
A defamation suit filed by whistleblower Jennifer Loew, Special Projects manager under disgraced former CEO and Biden FAA nominee Phillip Washington was filed in Superior Court of CA. on January 26th. The complaint states defamatory statements were made by Peace Over Violence CEO Patricia Giggans and Peace Over Violence Advisory Board Member (former LA County Supervisor) Sheila Kuehl.
The litigation is the result of statements made by Giggans and Kuehl to news outlets and on the POV website after the raids were executed on September 14th, 2022 at LA Metro Headquarters, POV offices and the homes of Giggans and Kuehl.
Biden’s pick to head the troubled FAA , Phillip Washington, has made several public statements stating he was not the subject of a criminal investigation, which seems to be an attempt to wordsmith himself out of trouble as he was also named in the criminal warrants. The investigation was a result of alleged Fraud, Waste, Abuse and Pay-to-Play that occurred under Washington’s tenure at LA Metro.
The Current Report was the only media present at LA Metro HQ when the LA County Sheriff’s Department executed the criminal warrants just after 7:00 AM.
Simultaneously, warrants were served at multiple locations including the home of the then Supervisor Sheila Kuehl where she exited her home barefoot to address the media swarming outside her property.
Kuehl’s comments to the media were that the warrant she was handed had “no information on it” although she acknowledged it bore the signature of a judge “who is a friend of the sheriff” and it was “a bogus non-investigation”. Kuehl further doubled down saying “there’s no investigation going on that would support this warrant.”
The criminal investigation spanning three-years produced substantial evidence to justify issuing the warrants based on thousands of documents (many reviewed by The Current Report) dating back to the Peace Over Violence hotline scandal that FOXLA broke in 2020.
Mainstream media continued to push the “vendetta” narrative highlighting the contentious relationship between former Sheriff Alex Villanueva and the Board of Supervisors, namely former Supervisor Sheila Kuehl (who retired after mid-term elections). Loew is the one who exposed the fraud, waste, abuse and Pay-to-Play with Giggans, Kuehl and Washington.
The whistleblowing at LA Metro began in 2017 during the sexual harassment investigation of Alex Wiggans, Chief of Systems Security and Law Enforcement.
LA Metro employee Sandra Solis, a nepotism hire by Washington, filed a sexual harassment complaint against Wiggans. During that investigation, Loew, who was in the high-powered position as Special Projects Manager, provided investigators with the names and additional information concerning Jon Gordon, Harold Martin, Patricia Martin and Ashely Martin, the nepotism hires who received direct appointments by Washington along with special compensation (at the objection of metro’s HR) in amounts that would lead to indictments of Grand Theft in most cases.
Unbeknownst to Loew, her testimony related to Washington’s nepotism hiring were not kept confidential. OIG Karen Gorman provided Washington with the details of Loew’s testimony.
Subsequent to receiving Loew’s testimony, Washington met with nepotism-hire Gordon and manufactured allegations of misconduct against Loew. Following that meeting, Washington took decisive action to protect his acts of nepotism and launched an HR investigation of Loew. Additionally, Washington took further adverse actions removing Loew’s staff without any evidence of misconduct and placing her office on the first floor parking garage.
In retrospect, the meeting Washington took with Gordon led to a four years of on-going retaliation against Loew. As a result of the well-documented harassment, Loew was awarded more than $500,000 in restitution.
Peace Over Violence is no stranger to the Stanly Mosk Court House. In the last 3 years Peace Over Violence has faced other lawsuits, filed by the Employees of the Not for Profit for the mistreatment of staff and Wrongful Termination.
However, the political entanglements in this case reaches far beyond this high-profile criminal investigation and reached far beyond the alleged dirty dealings dug up starting with the original LA Metro whistleblower.
Public records show Peace Over Violence has less than $3 million in assets and only took in $5.5 million in receipts on the last filed form 990.
If Loew prevails in her suit, as she has before against LA Metro, it would likely mean the end for Peace Over Violence. It could also set the precedence for future litigation effectively holding politicians civilly liable for abusing their power knowingly making false statements publicly to cover-up corruption and their involvement in criminal activities.
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