Trade Agreements

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.

December 12, 2019

For selling defective, Chinese-made products to the U.S. Department of Defense on fraudulently obtained contracts, Timothy Kelly, a California business manager for Emerson Company, has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.  Together with company owner Daniel Norton, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison, the two have also been ordered to pay $2.38 million in restitution, forfeit $333,000 in a bank account, and forfeit a $725,000 house in Hawaii.  USAO SDOH

November 18, 2019

Daniel Norton, the owner of former DOD contractor Emerson Company, has been sentenced to 8 years in prison following his guilty plea on charges that he fraudulently obtained government contracts and obstructed justice.  According to the evidence at trial, Emerson Company had been debarred in 2011, but Norton used front companies to fraudulently secure purchase orders for parts to be supplied to the military.  In violation of contract Buy-American requirements, Norton filled the purchase orders by supplying non-conforming products manufactured in China, even where the contract called for a specific part from an American manufacturer.  In addition to his prison sentence, Norton was ordered to pay $2.4 million in restitution, and forfeit property valued at over $1 million.  USAO SD OH

June 20, 2019

Pennsylvania-based Support of Microcomputers Associates (SOMA) has agreed to a $300,000 judgment for violating the False Claims Act and Trade Agreements Act.  The Trade Agreements Act prohibits the sale of computer supplies manufactured in certain countries to some federal agencies, such as the Department of Defense.  However, according to a former SOMA executive’s lawsuit, the company allegedly sold federal agencies computer supplies made in China, Vietnam, and other non-compliant countries.  USAO EDPA

May 13, 2019

Silicon Valley-based software company Informatica LLC will pay $21.57 million to resolve allegations that it provided false information about its commercial pricing and discounting practices that was then used in negotiations for Multiple Award Schedule contracts with the General Services Administration.  In addition, Informatica was alleged to have caused sales to the U.S. in violation of the Trade Agreements Act. The whistleblower, a former employee of Informatica, will receive $4.3 million from the settlement.  DOJ