FCA State

April 5, 2021

New York's Service Station Vending Equipment, Inc., which provides self-service, coin-operated air machines used to inflate automobile tires, and its principal, William McCabe, will pay $4.25 million to resolve an action initiated by a whistleblower under the New York State False Claims Act alleging that they evaded sales taxes, under-reported sales, and paid workers off the books.  NY

March 19, 2021

Following an earlier federal settlement, construction management company V.J. Associates, Inc., and its affiliates, will pay a total of $1.875 million to resolve claims brought in a whistleblower complaint on behalf of Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.  Defendants provided cost estimating and scheduling services on public works projects, and admitted to submitting false bills to prime contractors by inflating employee hours on contracts on which they were paid on a time-and-expense basis.  Employees internally referred to this overbilling as “juicing” and “tagging” hours.  NY; MA

March 2, 2021

Hedge fund manager Thomas E. Sandell has paid $105 million to resolve claims first brought by a whistleblower under the New York False Claims Act alleging that Sandell evaded tens of millions in state and local taxes by falsely claiming that $450 million in management and performance fees he recognized in 2017 were not earned for services performed in New York, despite the fact that his fund, Sandell Asset Management Corporation, operated in New York and represented to the SEC that New York City was its principal place of business.  In his effort to evade NY taxes, Sandell moved to London for a period of time, opened an office in Florida, and managed SAMC expenses through a shell company that he also owned and controlled, all while continuing to perform the investment services that generated the fee income in New York.  When Sandell’s accountant informed him that he would have to pay NY state taxes, he terminated them and retained a firm that took his preferred position.  The whistleblower will receive an award of $22.05 million, which is 21% of the government’s recovery. NY

January 15, 2021

The Colonial Automotive Group, Inc., a chain of automobile dealerships, will pay $1 million to resolve allegations that they defrauded the Massachusetts state Department of Unemployment Assistance.  The dealership allegedly encouraged employees who were furloughed as a result of the state’s COVID-19 in-person business closures to sign up for unemployment benefits. and then requested those workers continue to perform dealership work, without pay, while they were collecting state benefits.  MA