A former SunEdison Inc. executive has secured a stunning $34.5 million settlement, marking the largest documented recovery for a Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) whistleblower retaliation claim since the law’s inception in the wake of the Enron scandal. The deal follows nearly a decade of fierce legal battles over allegations that he was fired in retaliation for exposing potential securities law violations.
Carlos Domenech Zornoza, the former president and CEO of Terraform Global Inc. and Terraform Power Inc. (TERP), reached the settlement with SunEdison-sponsored yieldcos after alleging that he was terminated for raising concerns about fraudulent financial reporting as the company spiraled into its 2016 bankruptcy.
Exposing Alleged Corporate Misconduct
Domenech contended that SunEdison’s then-CEO Ahmad Chatila and CFO Brian Wuebbels had engaged in deceptive financial practices, misrepresenting actual and projected cash holdings while orchestrating self-serving transactions between SunEdison and its yieldcos. His concerns reached the desks of board members, including Peter Blackmore and Emmanuel Hernandez, but instead of intervention, Domenech claimed he faced a swift and retaliatory purge from all leadership positions.
