Government Procurement Fraud

January 24, 2019

Mississippi recovered $26.6 million in settlements with private prison and correctional services contractors including for-profit correctional facilities operators Management and Training Corporation ($5.2 million) and Cornell Companies, Inc., now part of GEO Group ($4.6 million), correctional healthcare provider Wexford Health Sources, Inc. ($4 million); commissary management company Keefe Commissary Network, LLC ($3.1 million), and construction company C. N. W. Construction Company ($3.1 million).  The state's lawsuits against the companies alleged that they used "consultants" as conduits to pay bribes and kickbacks to a commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, Christopher Epps.  MS

December 21, 2018

Vielka Maritza McFarlane, the founder and former CEO of Celerity Educational Group, a Los Angeles-based non-profit that owned and operated charter schools, has agreed to plead guilty for misappropriating public funds and falsely certifying that Celerity was complying with applicable rules and regulations.  McFarlane admitted that she directed approximately $2.5 million in public funds, including funds from the U.S. Department of Education, to improper uses.  USAO CD Cal

December 21, 2018

The construction company of F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen & Associates LLC will pay $2 million to settle allegations under the Illinois False Claims Act that it evaded requirements that it meet participation levels for certified small/minority/women-owned businesses on two contracts with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.  FHP was alleged to have falsely represented that a minority-owned business, Vargas Mechanical, Inc., would perform the work, in order to secure the contracts.  IL AG

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

December 4, 2018

The New York law firm of Rosicki, Rosicki & Associates, P.C., and two firms affiliated with it, have agreed to settle a False Claims Act action alleging that in performing legal work including foreclosure and eviction services for the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Veterans Administration, the entities submitted bills for costs that were not actual, reasonable, and necessary.  Instead, the false claims for payment included improper mark-ups and other unauthorized charges.  Defendants will pay a total of $6.1 million to the United States, and have agreed to implement a compliance program.  The case was originally brought by whistleblower Peter D. Grubea.  USAO SDNY

November 27, 2018

In New York, Bottini Fuel pleaded guilty to unlawfully retaining overpayments made by fuel oil customers, including public entity customers.  Rather than inform customers that they had made overpayments, or refund those payments, Bottini admitted that it diverted the customers' credit balances to the personal accounts of company owners, employees, and other friends and family.  Bottini agreed to pay over $3.2 million in restitution and civil damages.  The investigation was initiated by the filing of a whistleblower complaint under the New York False Claims Act; the unnamed whistleblower will receive $491,358 of the settlement.  NY AG

November 21, 2018

Andrew Otero and his company, A&D General Contracting, Inc. (“A&D”) were convicted of multiple charges after they were found guilty of constructing a scheme to defraud the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Army Corps of Engineers in order to obtain approximately $11 million in federal government construction contracts or task orders set aside for small businesses owned by disabled veterans. Otero, as shown by evidence at trial, does not have any military experience. Yet he and his co-conspirator Roger Ramsey, a veteran, and on behalf of his company, Action, formed a joint venture and falsely represented to the government that Action and the JV met the qualifications to be a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (“SDVOSB”), thus enabling them to bid on the contracts. Additionally, evidence at trial showed that the JV’s daily operations and decision-making did not function as would a legitimate SDVOSB. All four defendants are also facing civil charges. Sentencing will take place on February 19, 2019.    DOJ