Search results: chiquita (from 1/1993 to 12/2010 sorted by relevance)
Items: 6 (1 pages)
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE · October 5, 1998 · Newsgathering
Former Enquirer reporter pleads guilty in Chiquita incident
OHIO--Mike Gallagher, the former Cincinnati Enquirer reporter fired in late June after allegedly tapping into the Chiquita company's private voice-mails, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful interception of communications and one count of unauthorized access to voice-mail systems in late September in the Court of Common Pleas, Cincinnati.
Gallagher, who wrote a series of articles for the Enquirer on Chiquita Brands International that were published in early May, submitted pleas to the two felony charges in the Ohio court and is cooperating with the prosecution in the case, according to his attorney, Patrick Hanley.
The reporter was fired from his position at the Enquirer after the paper, in an apology that ran for three days beginning in late June, "renounced" the 18-page series about the Chiquita company. The stories questioned Chiquita's Central American business dealings and included accusations of bribery in Colombia, pesticide practices which endangered workers' health and the use of Chiquita ships to smuggle cocaine. The newspaper reportedly paid Chiquita more than $10 million as part of a confidential legal settlement. As part of the . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE · July 26, 1999 · Newsgathering
Reporter sentenced over Chiquita voice-mail theft
OHIO--Former Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Michael Gallagher was sentenced to five years of probation and 200 hours of community service in mid-July for illegally gaining access to the internal voice-mail system at the Chiquita Brands International banana company while researching an investigative series on the company's business practices, according to the Associated Press.
Gallagher had pleaded guilty to felony charges of unlawful interception of communications and unauthorized access to voice-mail systems in October 1998 in the Court of Common Pleas in Cincinnati. He faced a maximum sentence of two-and-one-half years in prison and fines of $7,500. Gallagher pleaded guilty to the two felony charges as part of a settlement with prosecutors in which he agreed to cooperate with their investigation of the voice-mail theft and ultimately disclosed his confidential source -- former Chiquita lawyer George Ventura.
The series of articles Gallagher wrote for the Enquirer, which were published in May 1998, questioned Chiquita's Central American business dealings, accused company officials of bribery in . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE · May 3, 1999 · Reporter's privilege
Former Chiquita attorney not protected by shield law
OHIO--The Ohio shield law, which allows a reporter to protect the identity of a source, does not prevent the reporter from voluntarily naming that source, Cincinnati trial Judge Ann Marie Tracey ruled in mid-April.
The ruling came in response to a source's attempt to assert the reporter's privilege and avoid liability for unlawfully intercepting voice mail used in the controversial Cincinnati Enquirer series about the business practices of Chiquita Brands International.
Tracey held that only reporters can assert the shield law to protect their confidential sources, and because Enquirer reporter Michael Gallagher already had disclosed that former Chiquita lawyer George Ventura was his source, the shield law was not applicable.
Ventura unsuccessfully argued that Gallagher should not have been allowed by the court to name Ventura as his source for unauthorized access to Chiquita voice mail because Ventura was a confidential source whose identity receives protection from disclosure under Ohio's shield law.
Gallagher has admitted he illegally acquired access to internal Chiquita voice mail and is awaiting sentencing on two felony charges as a . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE · July 13, 1998 ·
Chiquita sues reporter for stealing voice-mail
OHIO--In early July the world's largest banana producer filed a lawsuit in a federal district court in Columbus accusing a reporter of breaking into the company's voice-mail system and stealing more than 2,000 messages.
The lawsuit, filed by Chiquita Brands International, claims that former Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Michael Gallagher used Chiquita employees to infiltrate the company's voice-mail system and then stole messages from password-protected boxes.
Gallagher wrote a series of articles for the Enquirer in early May indicating that Chiquita, formerly known as the United Fruit Company, secretly controlled several supposedly independent banana companies, harmed workers by carelessly misusing pesticides, and bribed Columbian officials. The reports were based in part on the voice-mail messages Gallagher obtained, although one of the articles indicated that the messages had been provided by "a high-ranking Chiquita executive."
Chiquita took no legal action against the newspaper, which in late June paid $10 million to the company and printed an apology three days in a row, running it at the top of its front page . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE · July 12, 1999 · Privacy
OHIO--A former lawyer for Chiquita Brands International who admitted to helping a reporter obtain voice-mail messages illegally from the banana company that were used in a Cincinnati Enquirer story pleaded no contest to reduced charges in early July.
George Ventura accepted a deal with prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges of attempted unauthorized access to computer systems. As part of the deal, prosecutors dropped 10 felony charges that could have resulted in a prison term of more than 12 years. The former Chiquita lawyer was sentenced to two years of unmonitored probation and 40 hours of community service.
The Cincinnati Post reported that when Ventura agreed to plead no contest to the reduced charges, he also made another "secret promise" to Chiquita that he would never again disclose any of the information he gave to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Chiquita spokesman Joe Hagin told the Post that the company will not pursue further civil claims against the attorney and has "settled its civil claims against Mr. Ventura on a satisfactory basis."
Prosecutors had accused Ventura of . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE SIXTH CIRCUIT · January 31, 2005 · Reporter's privilege
Newspaper not liable for harm to outed confidential source
Jan. 31, 2005 -- The Cincinnati Enquirer is not liable for failing to prevent a former reporter from identifying a confidential source to a grand jury investigating the criminal activities of the source and reporter, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati (6th Cir.) ruled Friday.
George C. Ventura, former senior legal counsel to Chiquita Brands International in Equador, sued the Enquirer for breach of contract, negligent hiring and supervision, and related actions after former Enquirer reporter Michael Gallagher confirmed Ventura's identity as a confidential source to a grand jury investigating the theft of voice-mail messages from the banana company.
After leaving his position at Chiquita and threatening the company with a discrimination lawsuit, Ventura learned in September 1997 that Gallagher and another Enquirer reporter were investigating corrupt business practices by Chiquita in Central America. Ventura contacted Gallagher and provided him information about Chiquita and access codes to the company's telephone voice-mail system which Gallagher used to listen to messages.
They agreed that Ventura could be . . . [more]
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