I had an old roommate who was the political whistle-blower for NYC police when they lied about the number of minorities they arrest. He was instrumental in getting attention to the disproportionate number of minorities adversely affected by stop and frisk. As an analyst, he had access to the actual raw data and was the one actually creating the reports internally and decided to do speak out when, despite his reporting, the police and politicians were lying to the public.
He had an incredible background on paper (went to Harvard, numerous high level and trusted analyst positions in government, high profile Twitter account). After he leaked the information and had his 15 minutes of fame, his career was basically destroyed. I watched, first hand, over the course of the next two years how he couldn't get a job in his field anymore -- or any field for that matter. After going through his savings, he was forced to take a job working part time at a used clothing store, working for an abusive boss.
Don't underestimate the power of forever getting your name indexed in Google. He was labeled as a "gadfly" by government. Watching him struggle and what it did to his mental and physical health over was absolutely heartbreaking. I really hope this woman doesn't have the same outcome, but I am not optimistic.