Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Siddharth Breja — former global senior vice president of finance at Juul — alleged that the company knowingly “sent to market, at a minimum, approximately one million mint-flavored e-cigarette nicotine pods that it admits were contaminated,” and that he was unlawfully terminated in retaliation for raising concerns about public safety. As reported by Buzzfeed News, after Breja raised the issue with management, Juul did not warn consumers that their pods might have been adulterated or issue a recall.
The story the suit tells is a strange one, although not completely unfamiliar, and outlines how a company led by a charismatic leader — Kevin Burns, Juul’s former CEO — and under federal pressure can find itself on…