Defense Contract Fraud

July 20, 2020

Defense contractor iNovex Information Systems, Inc., will pay $1 million to resolve claims that it violated the FCA by overcharging the National Security Agency.  Defendant allegedly invoiced the NSA for services it claimed were provided by personnel who met contractually specified training and qualification requirements when, in fact, it knew that those employees did not meet all of the specialized qualifications.  USAO MD

June 22, 2020

A former employee of Schneider Electric Buildings America, Bhaskar Patel, has been sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to forfeit over $2.5 million in connection with a five-year bribery scheme involving several federal energy savings performance contracts.  Patel had pleaded guilty to soliciting and receiving over $2.5 million in bribes from eight Schneider subcontractors on the contracts, which included a $24.7 million project for the USDA in California, two projects amounting to $34.4 million for the GSA in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, a $42.4 million project for the VA in the Northeast, a $70 million project for the Coast Guard in Puerto Rico, and a $114.3 million project for the Navy in California.  USAO VT

June 16, 2020

The U.S. Navy’s leading supplier of high-yield steel for submarines, Bradken Inc., has agreed to pay $10.8 million and comply with a three-year deferred prosecution agreement in order to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act through its Tacoma foundry producing and selling steel that failed to meet certain strength standards required by the Navy.  In 2017, the defense contractor discovered and self-disclosed that test results for a substantial portion of its steel productions, spanning thirty years, had been improperly altered by then director of metallurgy, Elaine Thomas, causing shipbuilders to submit false claims to the Navy.  DOJ; USAO WDWA

June 12, 2020

A major Virginia-based defense contractor, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), has paid $5.98 million to settle claims arising from a self-disclosure that it violated the False Claims Act on a contract to provide IT support to the U.S. Army.  According to SAIC, employees working on newer projects that were not yet funded had billed their time to older projects that were funded.  When funding became available on the newer projects, employees working on the older projects then billed their time to the newer project.  USAO SDCA

June 10, 2020

A South Korean engineering company has been ordered to pay $68 million in criminal fines, civil penalties, and restitution after pleading guilty to defrauding the U.S. Army in a 2008 contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  According to the press release, SK Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. (SK) submitted documents to the Army that were doctored to conceal $2.6 million in payments to a fake construction company that had bribed an Army Corps of Engineers official on SK’s behalf.  The company also took steps to hamper investigations by U.S. and Korean officials by withholding and destroying relevant documents, attempting to tamper with a potential witness, and failing to properly discipline the employees involved with the bribery scheme.  SK was suspended from participating in certain contracts with the U.S. government in 2017; with this plea agreement, it will undergo another three years of probation.  DOJ

April 8, 2020

The last defendant in a conspiracy to rig bids and fix prices for supply fuel to U.S. military bases in South Korea has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve civil claims under Section 4A of the Clayton Act and the False Claims Act.  The government’s investigation into all defendants, including Jier Shin Korea Co. Ltd. and its president, Sang Joo Lee, were instigated by a whistleblower and resulted in a previous settlement of over $205 million.  As part of the settlement, Jier Shin and Lee have agreed to cooperate in the ongoing investigation and abide by an antitrust compliance program.  DOJ

January 23, 2020

DynCorp International has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle allegations that two former company officials, Wesley Aaron Struble and Jose Rivera, violated the Anti-Kickback Act and False Claims Act in connection with a Department of State property lease.  The two co-conspirators allegedly solicited and received $390,000 in cash kickbacks from an Iraqi subcontractor, the Al-Qarat Company, in exchange for influencing Dyncorp's lease of the property in Baghdad.  USAO EDVA

January 14, 2020

Defense contractor UST-Aldetec Holding Company LLC and its subsidiary United States Technologies Inc. will pay $525,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by providing non-conforming components, including counterfeit circuit card assemblies, for weapons systems. USAO DNJ