Whistle-blower accepts a deal.20 An auditor employed by a pharmaceutical company submitted documentation to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to support the approval of new drugs.He later suspected inaccuracies in the information he provided for one particular drug and, upon investigation, discovered that the project director in fact falsified data.When he reported this to his superiors, the company board of directors offered the auditor a deal. If he will not interfere with the FDA’s imminent decision to approve the drug, the company will discontinue the drug and request the FDA to withdraw approval due to “mistakes in marketing projections.”The aim was to avoid the bad press that would result from public knowledge of the falsification. The auditor accepted the deal, the company kept its word, and the project director quietly resigned.No further scandals of this sort have occurred.Was the auditor’s decision ethical?