Playboy Ordered to Pay $6M in Whistleblower Lawsuit

Playboy has been ordered to pay Catherine Zulfer, a former controller at Playboy Enterprises, $6 million for wrongful termination.

The jury in the whistleblower case found that she had been fired in retaliation for exposing fraud and was also discriminated against based on her age.

According to the lawsuit, Zulfer had accused Playboy Chief Financial Officer, Christof Pachler, of pressuring her to accrue bonuses for top executives after the company suffered significant losses in 2010. Zulfer refused because the board had not approved these bonuses and she told management about the actual and suspected fraud.

After she reported the fraud, Zulfer was excluded from meetings, ostracized and was not given crucial information she needed to carry on her duties. Additionally, she was terminated after Pachler announced a company plot to save money by terminating employees who had been there for more than a decade Zulfer had been with Playboy for three decades.

According to reports, this is the largest federal whistleblower lawsuit ever and punitive damages will not be decided until later this week.

If you believe you know of an individual, corporation or organization that is defrauding the government out of money, contact a whistleblower attorney at Phillips Law Group today by calling 1-800-706-3000 or by filling out the Free Case Review form to your right.