Government Procurement Fraud

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

Alutiiq International Solutions LLC (AIS), an Alaskan Native Corporation and government contractor, has agreed to pay $1.25 million and enter into a non-prosecution agreement to settle allegations of violating the Anti-Kickback Act in connection with a multi-million dollar General Services Administration (GSA) contract to modernize the Harry S. Truman Federal Building in Washington, D.C.  Beginning in 2010, a project manager formerly employed by AIS allegedly accepted kickbacks from a subcontractor in exchange for steering more work to the subcontractor, while also fraudulently billing GSA for a non-existent on-site supervisor and overinflating costs from its subcontractor.  AIS and its parent company, Afognak Native Corporation, cooperated fully with the investigation and have since engaged in extensive remedial actions.  DOJ

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

May 27, 2020

A contractor tasked with constructing a new terminal of the Peoria International Airport using FAA grant funds has agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations that it fraudulently obtained the contract by misrepresenting its use of a disadvantaged small business.  In violation of grant rules as well as the False Claims Act, Williams Brothers Construction Inc. allegedly made false representations and submitted fraudulent documents to make it appear that an eligible firm would do work on the project when instead the work was handed off to an ineligible firm.  DOJ; USAO CDIL

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