Trade Agreements

December 12, 2022

Medical device manufacturer Coloplast will pay $14.5 million to resolve claims that in its contracts with the Department of Veteran’s Affairs the company overcharged the government and submitted false claims.  Coloplast self-disclosed to the government that in violation of the Trade Agreements Act it misreported country of origin and sold products from non-designated countries, and, in violation of applicable Price Reduction Clauses, failed to provide the government with required discounts.  USAO DC

August 31, 2022

Medical device manufacturer Novo Nordisk, Inc. will pay $6.3 million to resolve claims that between 2012 and 2020 the company violated the False Claims Act by selling needles to the United States that were manufactured in non-designated countries in violation of the Trade Agreements Act.  USAO NJ

January 6, 2022

SoNo International LLC and Ark Capital Equipment LLC have agreed to pay $904,000 to resolve allegations of supplying the Department of Defense with shipping containers that were made in China or made of Chinese steel, in violation of contracts as well as the False Claims Act.  As part of the settlement, the two companies will also submit to enhanced training and reporting requirements pursuant to an administrative agreement with the Defense Logistics Agency.  An unnamed third-party company, which SoNo and Ark hired to change identifying plates on the shipping containers, has separately agreed to train employees on customs rules and regulations.  USAO EDPA

September 10, 2021

Defense contractors Southeastern Equipment Co., Inc. and SECO Parts and Equipment Co. have agreed to pay $900,000 to resolve allegations that they knowingly billed for and provided equipment that was not in compliance with the Buy American Act or the rules of the U.S. Army’s Simplified Nonstandard Acquisition Program.  The government’s investigation was initiated by a the filing of a whistleblower suit under the False Claims Act.  USAO SD Ga

August 18, 2021

Defense contractor Iris Kim, Inc. (“I-Tek”), together with its owner and four employees, were sentenced on criminal charges arising out of a fraudulent scheme to falsely qualify for Department of Defense and other federal government supply contracts set aside for service-disabled veterans, import Chinese-manufactured goods in violation of the terms of these contracts, and falsely relabel these goods as if they were made in the U.S.  The U.S. spent over $7 million on fraudulently-imported goods sold by I-Tek.  Owner Beyung S. Kim was sentenced to 58 months in prison, and the four employees were sentenced to a combined 93 months in prison.  USAO ED VA

January 11, 2021

Defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Corporation and its subsidiary, Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation, have agreed to pay over $515,000 to settle allegations of submitting false claims for payment.  Between 2006 and 2015, Raytheon and Hamilton improperly certified that goods it sold either directly to the government or to suppliers selling to the government were of domestic origin, when in fact they were manufactured in Romania.  The false certifications violated the contracts’ domestic-preference requirements, the Buy American Act of 1933, and the False Claims Act.  USAO CT

December 16, 2020

Handicare USA, which manufactures and installs patient lift and mobility systems for healthcare facilities, agreed to pay $800,000 to resolve claims that it knowingly provided products to the Veterans Administration that failed to comply with the Trade Agreements Act.  A whistleblower tipped the government that Handicare patient lifts installed at VA facilities used parts made in China for the mounting system that secured the patient lift to the ceiling, and took steps to conceal its non-compliance, including by instructing that the products should be installed so that the “Made in China” stamps on metal parts would not be visible.  USAO DC

Unitrans International Inc., Anham FZCO, et al. — Government Contract Fraud ($45 million)

Our attorneys represented Rory Maxwell, John Bush, and Supreme Foodservice GmbH in a qui tam action under the False Claims Act against Unitrans International Inc., a privately held Virginia defense contracting company, and Anham FZCO, an associated Dubai Free Zone company, for making false certifications of compliance with the U.S. sanctions regime against Iran to induce the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency and the U.S. Army to award Anham wartime contracts to provide food and transportation to U.S. troops.  Our whistleblower clients also alleged Anham knowingly and falsely represented construction progress on its Bagram warehouse in related bid proposals to the government.  In December 2019, Unitrans agreed to pay $45 million to resolve criminal and civil allegations related to this alleged misconduct, which includes $27 million to resolve our whistleblower clients’ False Claims Act allegations.  Read more about the case at the Department of Justice website here and in The Washington Post here.