Despite Jeffrey Wigand's commitment to honor the confidentiality agreement and his initial refusal to talk to Lowell Bergman, producer of 60 Minutes, Wigand claimed that he and his family were anonymously stalked, intimidated and threatened with death should he talk. At the time, it was thought that Brown & Wiliamson were behind these intimidation attempts, but, just before the movie The Insider was released, the FBI published a search warrant that was served on Wigand's home, strongly suggesting he fabricated the threats against himself. Bergman provided him with armed bodyguards and, after legal consultation, urged him to testify for the State of Mississippi in a lawsuit against Big Tobacco brought by Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore, a tactic designed to nullify his confidentiality agreement before revealing the truth in an interview with Mike Wallace for 60 Minutes. The tobacco interests responded by getting a Kentucky judge to issue a gag order that subjected Wigand to arrest upon returning to his home state.
Wigand's best hope remained in Bergman's pledge to air his story on 60 Minutes. Brown & Williamson threatened CBS with a lawsuit for tortious interference, which could spoil an imminent merger plan with Westinghouse. Instead of the original interview, CBS aired an edited version which did not disclose the crucial details. Bergman bitterly opposed the breaking of his word to Wigand, which eventually led to his resignation from 60 Minutes after 14 successful years.
Brown & Williamson still tried to sue Wigand for theft, fraud, and breach of contract after the sanitized interview was aired, and launched a 500-page smear campaign against him. Fortunately for Wigand, his depositions at the Mississippi and Kentucky state courts were leaked, and were published by the Wall Street Journal as part of an investigative rebuttal to the attacks. CBS news, embarrassed, finally aired the full, original Wigand interview on 60 Minutes, leaving much of the nation in shock.
Forty-six states ultimately filed a Medicaid suit against the tobacco industry, which led to a $368 billion settlement in health-related damages by the tobacco companies.
Read more about this topic: Brown & Williamson
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