MAA Whistleblower Complaint

The original complaint I submitted through Mid-America Apartment Communities’ (MAA) internal reporting system was deleted and not retained in any form. This raises significant legal concerns under several federal statutes. As a publicly traded company, MAA is required under Section 301 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. § 78j-1(m)(4)) to maintain procedures for the receipt, retention, and treatment of complaints regarding accounting, internal controls, or auditing matters. Deleting or failing to preserve such a complaint constitutes a violation of those retention requirements. Further, Section 13(b)(2)(A)-(B) of the Securities Exchange Act mandates that issuers maintain accurate books, records, and internal accounting controls; removing a whistleblower complaint from the system undermines those obligations. In addition, if the deletion was intended to prevent or discourage the matter from being reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission, it may violate SEC Rule 21F-17(a), which prohibits actions that impede whistleblowers from communicating with the Commission. Finally, intentional destruction or alteration of records relevant to a potential federal investigation may constitute obstruction of justice under 18 U.S.C. § 1519.

The "new" partial complaint is below with original to follow shortly.

Whistleblower

Message Summary

Subject

Additional Whistleblower Complaints

Type

Secure Web Form

Documents

None

Created

Tue, 01/28/2025 - 17:01

Original Message

This letter serves as an official communication to update Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (MAA) regarding ongoing legal filings and forthcoming legal action in response to the persistent misconduct, retaliation, and procedural violations that I have experienced.

Overview of Court Filings
I have submitted multiple motions and supporting documents to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit under Case No. 24-6082. These filings provide clear evidence of judicial misconduct, procedural irregularities, and the improper involvement of MAA and its representatives in actions that have severely prejudiced my legal rights. A summary of the submissions includes:

1. Motion to Supplement the Appellate Record and Brief

This motion details judicial bias, procedural irregularities, and retaliatory actions affecting the integrity of my case. It includes Exhibits A, B, C, and D, which provide critical evidence of misconduct, improper judgment enforcement, and harassment by MAA's legal representatives.

2. Exhibit A – Judicial Misconduct Complaint

Evidence of systemic judicial bias and procedural errors, including the unauthorized addition of emails to the court docket and the involvement of judicial personnel with conflicts of interest.

3. Exhibit B – Retaliatory Actions and Harassment

Documented harassment tactics, including repeated improper service attempts at my residence by individuals purporting to act on behalf of MAA.

4. Exhibit C – Judicial Overreach

Orders issued by judicial personnel that unfairly restricted my procedural rights without due process and appear directly retaliatory.

5. Exhibit D – Post-Judgment Harassment

Correspondence from MAA’s legal representatives containing invasive and inappropriate demands under the guise of judgment enforcement, despite the case being under appeal.

Retaliation Lawsuit Announcement
I am preparing to file a series of retaliation lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions to address MAA’s ongoing efforts to obstruct justice, intimidate, and retaliate against me for exercising my rights as a whistleblower. These lawsuits will cite the following:

Ongoing Harassment

MAA representatives have engaged in persistent attempts to intimidate me, including improper service of documents and unwarranted demands for personal and financial information.

Violation of Whistleblower Protections

MAA's retaliatory actions are in direct violation of federal and state whistleblower protection laws, including 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-304.

Defamation and Baseless Allegations

MAA representatives have made baseless accusations against me, causing harm to my reputation and escalating stress during an already prejudicial legal process.

Continued Whistleblower Updates
I have also started a new communication thread within MAA’s whistleblower system to ensure that all instances of misconduct are properly documented. If MAA’s system continues to fail in addressing these concerns, I will persist in initiating new threads to ensure that the ongoing issues are thoroughly recorded and escalated as needed.

Comments

Displaying 1 - 25 of 509

Created

Fri, 11/07/2025 - 12:34

So many more to email ...

Hello all US District Judges, Appeals Courts Judges, and Supreme Court Justices of the US,

This is not something for appeal; it is misconduct and fraud, plain and simple.

As the Plaintiff and Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) are now attempting to have me arrested for alleged “criminal contempt” and “perjury,” that is their prerogative. I am now represented by a highly regarded law firm in the Washington, D.C. area. This was never a trademark infringement case—it was always about obtaining documents. MAA believes its connections place it above the law.

What seems to be overlooked is that this entire lawsuit was initiated to obstruct justice and to gain access to materials I previously provided to the United States government regarding securities violations, antitrust violations, and other serious misconduct involving MAA. I uploaded the Plaintiff’s document requests to the docket. During a September 2023 conference call, I was instructed to conduct a search for “MAA” and provide all related documents.

MAA first contacted me in November 2021, claiming they would provide me with a report from their internal investigation. That representation was false. Despite my repeated requests—at least fifty times since then—I never received the report. That was all I ever asked for.

There is no legitimate evidence showing that I created or was involved in the creation of any website at issue—only an altered subpoena that proves nothing. I have repeatedly requested copies of the original subpoenas, as the ones Google produced differ from those submitted to the court. All of this is reflected on the docket.

Whatever actions I took months after discovering this fraud are irrelevant; I should never have been converted from a witness into a defendant without proper judicial process.

To be clear, I am not asking for legal advice or a case review. I am simply reporting what is happening within the Sixth Circuit. If the judges, appellate courts, the Circuit Executive (a Tennessee native and Vanderbilt graduate), and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts choose to look the other way, that is also their prerogative.

If you do not want to be a part of my contact list, please let me know, by emailing me.

/S/ Dennis Philipson

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Mikey D

Good Evening,

This message was sent to all plaintiff and defendant attorneys in the RealPage multidistrict litigation (M.D. Tenn., Case No. 3:23-md-03071) urging plaintiffs not to settle.

Please take the time to review, the attached documents and listen to the recorded calls. I have substantially more evidence available for anyone willing to examine it.

I understand parts of this message may seem unusual without full context, but everything stated here is supported by documented facts. Since 2021, I have been repeatedly harassed for submitting documents to various government agencies related to antitrust violations, securities violations, and other misconduct. My past whistleblower complaints have been deleted from the company hotline, which I believe violates SEC rules.

I acknowledge that once I became aware of the extent of the misconduct and fraud, my attitude understandably changed. I remained engaged in the proceedings and repeatedly stated that I would appear for trial, yet I was treated as uncooperative and combative. Despite my assurances, the Court in the Western District of Tennessee cancelled my trial altogether.

Throughout the first six orders, I was repeatedly told—by the judge’s judicial law clerk—that I was expected to “negotiate” and stop “wasting the court’s time.” Negotiate what, exactly? Less retaliation?

In fact, the manufactured lawsuit against me started in March 2023—only a few months after this very civil lawsuit suit. In those made-up lawsuits, I went from a witness to a defendant through the use of altered subpoenas, prematurely sent documents, and altered evidence. The discovery requests I posted to the docket, as well as every other piece of information I had about this case (nothing involving whistleblower complaints or documents provided to the government), were all disclosed. During a status conference in September 2021, the judge and attorneys specifically asked for any and all documents related to MAA. It is all in the TNWD docket, and I documented everything, posting the discovery requests to the docket. The judges and attorneys’ specific mention of all documents related to MAA should appear in the September status conference transcript.

Then in November 2023, I learned, through metadata contained in 6 ORDERS, one, November 1st, 2021 - barring me to speak, which refused to sign. This was the same day the DC attorney General announced a potential lawsuit against MAA. that the Judicial Law Clerk authoring the orders against me was a former colleague of Bass, Berry & Sims in 2021 and had even worked on the same cases as opposing counsel. There is even more evidence of this if you look through PACER, a mean ALOT.

The court has repeatedly threatened me with arrest and with investigations by the U.S. Marshals—all simply because I reported this misconduct to other judges in Tennessee. Reporting wrongdoing is not the same as asking them to review a case or give me legal advice, yet they ignore it all the same. Fast forward to July 2025 — they had me arrested for “civil contempt.” After five days of being held in booking at the Alexandria Detention Center, my wife emailed the attorneys begging for help. They then tried to trick both of us by making her a signer on a gag-style settlement agreement, which would have made her financially responsible—requiring payment of $5,000 to MAA instead of the $667,000 judgment—in exchange for my immediate release. The arrangement was coordinated through, I believe, Mr. Golwen’s friends in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. I initially agreed under pressure, but after being released, I rescinded any agreement. It was an obvious setup.

After MAA threatened me through their whistleblower hotline in response to my new whistleblower complaint—telling me to stop “harassing” them through the hotline and warning that I continued “at my own peril”—I was subsequently found in contempt and jailed. Is that what they meant by “my own peril”?

I had to resubmit my whistleblower complaint because MAA used their fraudulently obtained order to have my original complaint deleted. Still waiting for that report of MAA’s investigation they promised me in 2021, but their SVP of Internal Investigation was “working on the formatting for the Board of Directors.”

Since 2021, MAA’s Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Executive Officer have all left the company, each citing "planned retirement".

In September, MAA’s Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, and General Counsel (formerly of Bass, Berry & Sims and Baker Donelson) stated that MAA’s Chief Litigation Counsel, who had been handling the case, had also left the company for another position. That individual now appears to be employed by Greystar. See Dkt. 295-1, Case No. 2:23-cv-02186-cgc.

I’m still waiting to see the case studies featuring MAA that appeared on Baker Donelson’s website. No disrespect intended toward any of these firms—just noting the connections. There’s so much more to all of this that I don’t even have time to explain in it all.

False accusations against me of credit card fraud in opposing counsel’s name involving $30,000 in charges, yet no police report was ever filed. I was then ordered to pay $6,000 for her “credit repair.” I was also accused of checking people’s mail, reading letters from my grandmother, planting bugs, and even posting intimidating reviews about Baskin Robbins, among other things. I could go on for days.

Many of the judges involved in the Judicial Council and the Sixth Circuit Court are from Tennessee and attended Vanderbilt. The Circuit Executive, Marc Theriault is from Tennessee and also went to Vanderbilt. Judge Kevin Ritz is from Memphis. MAA executives serve on the board of the Public Safety Institute and are major donors. Its president, Bill Gibbons, is married to Judge Julia Gibbons of the Sixth Circuit Court. They are policing themselves.

Listen to the calls (including those with the judge’s representative about the settlement), read the emails, and review the settlement documents. Everything is there.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) and certain Tennessee officials have acted as though they are above the law. I will continue to pursue accountability, even if federal agencies such as the DOJ, SEC, and FBI decline to act or continue to ignore my reports. I will not be intimidated or silenced.

Do not settle.

Dennis Philipson