MEMORANDUM AND ORDER Defendants Linda Mei He, WL Global Corp. (“WL Global”), We Education Group Inc. (“We Education”), and Wailian Overseas Consulting Group Ltd. (“Wailian”), (collectively, “Defendants”) move, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37, for an order imposing sanctions on Plaintiff Hong Danielle Accettola and her counsel for failure of Plaintiff to appear at her noticed deposition on June 14, 2024, as well as her evasive discovery responses. See Dkt. No. 39. Plaintiff opposes the motion and requests that discovery be stayed. Dkt. No. 42.1 For the following reasons, the motion for sanctions is granted in part and denied in part. BACKGROUND Plaintiff alleges that she was employed by WL Global as President beginning in 2013. Dkt. No. 1-2 10. Plaintiff further alleges that Defendant Mei He is the beneficial owner, manager or chief executive of Defendants WL Global, Wailian and We Education. Id. 15. Plaintiff alleges that in approximately April 2020 she began to question certain transactions of Defendants related to Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans, which were given to U.S. businesses by the U.S. government during the COVID-19 pandemic. Id.
20-21. The transactions Plaintiff allegedly inquired about included an “abrupt switch in banking institutions for the Defendant corporations,” “WeEducation’s transfer of funds from WeEducation’s holding company…to WL Global,” and “My Visa Services, Inc.’s…foreign investment sales.” Id. 21. Plaintiff alleges that, after making these inquiries, she was ostracized and shut out from many of her usual tasks at WL Global. Id. 22. Plaintiff allegedly continued to make complaints during 2021 until she was terminated on November 5, 2021, which she argues happened as a result of her reporting the allegedly fraudulent schemes to an internal auditor. Id.
