A translator who provided internal Toyota documents to news outlets is facing sanctions for not obeying a protective order in the litigation over the carmaker’s vehicles that unexpectedly accelerated.

U.S. District Judge James V. Selna of the Central District of California ordered Betsy Benjaminson, who lives in Israel and is a self-described whistleblower, to show cause why she should not be sanctioned. Selna ordered Benjaminson to appear in his Santa Ana, Calif., courtroom on Oct. 27.