Bribery and Bid-Rigging

January 14, 2022

A former official with the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General who was accused of accepting bribes on a prime contract and defrauding the government has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison.  While overseeing a contract that allowed federal agencies in the DC area to order telecommunication services and equipment, Matthew LumHo solicited and received bribes from a co-conspirator, William S. Wilson, in exchange for steering business to Wilson’s company.  Lumho also knowingly authorized fraudulent service orders for marked up services—essentially defrauding the government into paying for the bribes themselves—and repeatedly interfered with the criminal investigation.  USAO EDVA

October 1, 2021

Pharmaceutical manufacturers Taro Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., Sandoz Inc. and Apotex Corporation have agreed to pay a total of $447.2 million to resolve alleged violations of the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute arising from unlawful compensation received through arrangements on price, supply and allocation of customers with other pharmaceutical manufacturers of various generic drugs.  In connection with the FCA settlements, Taro will pay $213.2 million, Sandoz will pay $185 million, and Apotex will pay $49 million.  The civil settlements are in addition to previous deferred prosecution agreements resolving related criminal charges, pursuant to which Taro paid a criminal penalty of $205.6 million, Sandoz paid a criminal penalty of $195 million, and Apotex paid a criminal penalty of $24.1 million.  DOJ

June 30, 2021

Armed Forces Services Corporation (AFSC) d/b/a Magellan Federal has agreed to pay over $4.3 million to resolve its liability under the False Claims Act.  In a written disclosure to the U.S. Small Business Administration, AFSC revealed that a former executive had orchestrated kickbacks for himself and two other executives in exchange for awarding subcontractors work on federal contracts.  USAO EDVA

June 25, 2021

Multinational telecommunications and internet service provider Level 3 Communications, LLC has agreed to pay over $12.7 million to resolve claims a former employee brought under the False Claims Act, alleging violations of the Anti-Kickback Act, False Claims Act, and Procurement Integrity Act.  Under a contract with the General Services Administration, Level 3 allegedly accepted kickbacks from subcontractors MSO Tech, Inc. and P.V.S. Inc. in exchange for steering work to them.  Additionally, under a contract with the Department of Homeland Security, Level 3 allegedly maintained that subcontractor PVS qualified as a contractually obligated woman-owned small business when in fact PVS is owned by a man.  USAO EDVA

June 7, 2021

An engineering firm in North Carolina, Contech Engineered Solutions LLC (Contech), has been ordered to pay $7 million in criminal fines and over $1.5 million in restitution to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT).  Contech admitted that it conspired to rig bids and defraud the NCDOT, fraudulently obtaining contracts over a ten-year period.  DOJ charged a former Contech executive, Brent Brewbaker, as a co-defendant.  Brewbaker remains under indictment.  DOJ

May 28, 2021

Eric Pulier, who previously served as an executive at ServiceMesh, Inc., which later merged with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), entered into a consent judgment for $4.8 million in disgorgement, civil penalties, and interest.  The judgment resolved an SEC action alleging that Pulier paid more than $2 million in bribes to executives at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to secure business for CSC.  Securing the Australia business entitled ServiceMesh to a $98 million earn-out payment from the CSC acquisition, and Pulier was personally entitled to $30 million of that earn-out.  SEC

May 27, 2021

Bank Julius Baier & Co. Ltd. (BJB), a Swiss bank with international operations, will pay $79 million in penalties and enter into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement to resolve a criminal investigation into the bank’s involvement in a money laundering conspiracy that fueled an international soccer bribery scheme.  BJB admitted that it conspired to launder over $36 million in bribes through the United States to soccer officials with FIFA and other federations, in furtherance of a scheme in which sports marketing companies bribed soccer officials in exchange for broadcasting rights to soccer matches.  BJB’s Anti-Money Laundering controls failed to detect or prevent the money laundering, despite knowing that certain client accounts were associated with international soccer, which was generally understood to involve high-corruption risks.  A BJB executive directed that the opening of these accounts be fast-tracked in the hope that the clients would provide lucrative business.  DOJ

March 19, 2021

Humanitarian organization the International Rescue Committee, which contracted with USAID to provide humanitarian assistance for internally-displaced persons in Syria, will pay $6.9 million in a settlement resolving claims under the False Claims Act. The settlement followed an investigation by the USAID OIG into an alleged kickback and bid-rigging scheme involving IRC’s acquisition of goods and services between 2012 and 2015, which resulted in USAID paying inflated prices.  USAO DC