Defense Contract Fraud

December 19, 2018

Arvco Container Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan, will pay $400,000 to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by performing 100% of the manufacturing work on a contract that had been awarded by the Defense Logistics Agency to Fibre Technologies LLC in Reading, Pennsylvania, subject to a HUBZone small business program that barred Fibre from subcontracting the entire manufacturing.  USAO MD Pa

December 17, 2018

Progressive Technology Federal Systems, Inc. and its CEO, John Yokley, have agreed to pay $110,000 to resolve allegations under the federal False Claims Act that they misrepresented a consultant's security clearance and failed to disclose a conflict of interest in bidding to perform IT work for the Army and Air Force.  PTFS bid on the contract through the cooperative purchasing program of the National Institutes of Health’s Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center, NITAAC, which enables federal agencies to contract for information technology services. USAO CO

November 14, 2018

The United States and three South Korea-based companies, SK Energy Co. Ltd., GS Caltex Corporation, and Hanjin Transportation Co. Ltd., have reached an agreement to resolve criminal and civil claims arising from the defendants' alleged bid-rigging and price-fixing in contracts to supply fuel to U.S. military bases in South Korea.  As a result of this conduct, the Department of Defense paid substantially inflated prices for fuel supply services in South Korea. Defendants agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay a total of $236 million -- $82 million in criminal fines and $154 million for civil antitrust and False Claims Act violations related to the bid-rigging conspiracy.  The False Claims Act civil investigation resulted from a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  The settlement is part of an ongoing federal investigation into bid rigging, price fixing and other anticompetitive conduct targeting U.S. Department of Defense fuel supply contracts in South Korea; the defendants have agreed to cooperate with that investigation.  DOJ

November 8, 2018

The United States charged two South Korean nationals, Hyeong-won Lee and Dong-guel Lee, of defrauding the federal government in connection with two multimillion dollar construction contracts their employer, South Korea-based SK Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd., (SK), had with the U.S. Army. From 2008 to 2017, acting on behalf of SK, the two allegedly submitted fraudulent subcontracts that were based on millions of dollars of kickbacks that SK paid to a U.S. official in exchange for being awarded the contracts. While the fraud was being investigated, the two also took pains to disguise the kickbacks and fraud even further by ordering employees to burn boxes of evidence and persuading them not to testify. DOJ; USAO WDTN

November 2, 2018

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (NGSC), a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation, has agreed to pay a total of $31.65 million to settle False Claims Act-based civil and criminal allegations concerning fraudulent billing of the U.S. Air Force. NGSC allegedly overbilled for time that its Middle East-based employees spent working on the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) and Dynamic Re-tasking Capability (DRC) contracts. According to NGSC timesheets, employees were putting in exactly 12-13.5 hours a day, seven days a week, for multiple years. At one location alone, the overbilling resulted in a loss of more than $5 million. DOJ; USAO SDCA

October 15, 2018

Indal Technologies Inc. has agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly selling the U.S. Navy helicopter landing systems that used substandard steel. The alleged fraud by Indal Technologies involved the substitution of a stronger steel for a weaker, less inexpensive steel in a component that helps secure a landing helicopter onto certain Navy destroyers. Due to the possibility of rough winds and seas during landing, it is crucial for this component to be made of high strength steel. DOJ; USAO NJ

October 15, 2018

Alpha Research & Technology, Inc. (ART) has agreed to pay $1 million to settle False Claims Act-based allegations of defense contract fraud. From 2006 to 2011, the command and control systems provider allegedly submitted inflated subcontractor pricing proposals to contractors who then unknowingly included the false claims in proposals submitted to the Department of Defense. Among the expenses claimed by ART were the personal expenses of co-owners Donne and DeAnne Smith for designing and constructing a luxury home, luxury cars, and luxury getaways. USAO EDCA