A former executive of Sprint Nextel Corp. in Honolulu yesterday filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the company, claiming she was fired last June after reporting alleged fraudulent sales activity by the firm.

The civil complaint was filed in state Circuit Court on behalf of Joanne Marie Toledo Hamm by Big Island attorneys Jerry Hiatt and Mahilani Hiatt. Named as defendants were Sprint Nextel Corp., Sprint/United Management Co., Dennis McSweeney and Mislyn Alensonorin.

Hamm, 50, had been with Sprint for 15 years and was a "multi channel director" for the company when she was terminated. McSweeney is listed in the complaint as Hamm's former supervisor and manager with Nextel, and Alensonorin as Sprint's human resources manager.

Kathleen Dunleavy, regional spokeswoman for Sprint Nextel, said yesterday afternoon that the company had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

During her 15 years with Sprint, Hamm said she had provided "extraordinary service" to the company. But that all changed when she was put in charge of the merger of Sprint and Nextel Partners Inc. in Hawai'i in September 2006, according to the lawsuit.

Hamm alleges that she uncovered a scheme in which senior Nextel management directed its sales staff to order phones for customers without their authorization or knowledge. The phones would then be "shipped" from one side of a warehouse to the other, rather than to the customers, according to the lawsuit.

During her investigation, Hamm said she "found literally thousands of fraudulent units reported as sales in Hawai'i alone" and that the practice was "used widely" throughout Nextel Partners, the lawsuit said.

Hamm surmised that the reason for the activity was to artificially inflate sales figures prior to the merger.

"One effect of this false data would have been to drive up the financial results of (Nextel Partners Inc.) just at the time that Sprint was acquiring NPI, at a price based on an appraisal, which was in turn dependent upon the financial results of NPI," the lawsuit alleges. "NPI itself thus benefited in the merger directly from the fraudulent sales."

The lawsuit did not provide a value of the alleged inflated sales.

Hamm said she reported the activity to McSweeney, but was directed to stop her investigation and "live with the problems," according to the lawsuit. But four months after complaining to McSweeney, the lawsuit said, Hamm was terminated.

Hamm said the company accused her of violating its code of conduct, falsifying expense records, and violating the employee guide. Hamm said in the lawsuit that the allegations were false and that she was fired for being a whistleblower. She also alleged that she was discriminated against because she was a woman.

In a statement issued yesterday, Hamm said she was reluctant to file the lawsuit, but did so "so that the false reasons given for my discharge can be put to rest."

"Prior to my termination I reported to my manager at Sprint that it deceived its customers and presented a false financial picture by relying upon thousands of fraudulent and nonexistent sales booked by the company it merged with, Nextel Partners," Hamm said. "These were not just a few isolated transactions, but systematic and involved government entities as well as large local and national corporate customers. Rather than do the right thing, Sprint chose to terminate the messenger who brought this problem to light, firing their most senior local female executive in favor of a younger male."

Hamm is seeking an undetermined amount in damages and attorneys' fees.