If you have information regarding wrong-doing by the RiverCenter or its executive staff, you may anonymously report it to the Muckraker through our website’s contact form here.

While currently under federal investigation for its alleged discrimination and hostile practices, a RiverCenter attorney ignored proper channels and contacted the whistleblower who filed the federal complaints, appearing to try to influence the investigation to their favor.

The RiverCenter’s improper actions appear to have largely overstepped the bounds of the federal investigation and the basic ethical practice of law itself.

The RiverCenter is currently under a federal investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) after federal investigators found the numerous complaints of former employees worthy enough to warrant a formal investigation. The complaints largely centered around the actions of RiverCenter’s executive director, Norman S. Easterbrook, alleging numerous instances of discrimination and the fostering of a hostile work environment. 

Additional investigations may also be underway from the Department of Labor (DOL), though the Muckraker was not able to independently confirm these possible additional investigations.

The RiverCenter has now lost no less than seven employees in recent months, many of whom quit without even bothering to line up another job; they simply could not stand working under Easterbrook’s charge any longer. At least one of those former employees filed formal complaints against the RiverCenter and its executive director, which appeared strong enough for investigators to warrant a formal federal investigation.

In response, and under Easterbrook’s charge, the RiverCenter’s attorney ignored the rules of the American Bar Association and made direct contact with the whistleblower themselves during the ongoing federal investigation. The attorney should have only ever communicated through the whistleblower’s own attorney and was prohibited from contacting the whistleblower directly.

The whistleblower’s own attorney responded to the RiverCenter’s improper actions, insisting they never attempt to contact the whistleblower personally again and instead follow the proper channels of the federal investigation.

There appears to be no reason for the RiverCenter to have deviated from these protocols except to attempt to gain undue influence over the whistleblower who filed the complaints, hoping to bend the investigation to their favor by lessening what the whistleblower may be willing to reveal.

By having their attorney contact the whistleblower directly, the RiverCenter attorney ignored one of the most basic tenants of the ethical practice of law. The attorney would have known it was improper to contact the complainant and should have gone through the proper channels of the federal investigation.

According to the American Bar Association (ABA), attorneys are prohibited from contacting people who have filed against their clients, as stated in Rule 4.2 of the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct:

“This Rule contributes to the proper functioning of the legal system by protecting a person who has chosen to be represented by a lawyer in a matter against possible overreaching by other lawyers who are participating in the matter, interference by those lawyers with the client-lawyer relationship and the uncounselled disclosure of information relating to the representation.” 

The rule is intended to protect people like the whistleblower who filed complaints against the RiverCenter, so that the organization’s attorney cannot take advantage of them. The attorney is instead required to go through the proper channels of communication throughout the federal investigation. 

While certain extremely rare circumstances do permit attorneys to contact their opposition’s client (in this case, the whistleblower) directly, they often must get a court order to do so for only extremely rare occurrences. None of these extremely rare occurrences existed at the time of the RiverCenter’s contact. 

The federal investigation also comes on the heels of a long line of financial turmoil for the RiverCenter, including numerous allegations of embezzlement. The allegations were privately and anonymously shared with the Muckraker by former staff members and other members of the RiverCenter’s “inner circle”. These same allegations also caused the RiverCenter’s board of directors to conduct their own internal investigation last year, though the findings have not been verified by the Muckraker. 

Under Easterbrook’s charge since his hiring in FY 2014, the RiverCenter has accrued a cumulative net loss of more than $1.13 million from 2014 to 2019. We have published our findings complete with an interactive visual chart in an additional article on the subject.

If you have information regarding wrong-doing by the RiverCenter or its executive staff, you may anonymously report it to the Muckraker through our website’s contact form here.