Takeaways:
On April 16, 2020, the Honorable William M. McSwain, United
States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, issued a sweeping
request for help in identifying companies and individuals who seek to “exploit
the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic for their own benefit.” The
Philadelphia United States Attorney’s Office has a long history fighting fraud.
This is the second part of a two-part article.
In the first of this two-part series, we discussed the success of the United States’ federal False Claims Act (FCA),[1] the rise of international whistleblowers through a study of the Michael Epp case,
On behalf of their client Michael Epp, the law firms Morgan Verkamp LLC (Cincinnati) and Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP (Philadelphia) note the settlement of claims initiated by Mr. Epp alleging fraud on the part of Supreme Foodservice, the “prime vendor” of food and related items to the Department of Defense and coalition troops in Afghanistan from 2005 until at least 2009.
After a coordinated investigation by the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado and the Defense Criminal Investigative Services (DCIS), First RF Corporation has agreed to pay $10 million to settle False Claim Act violations. The allegations arose over a 2005 Army contract with First RF for the sale of electronic warfare antennas.
Northrop Grumman, one of the nation’s largest defense contractors, agreed to pay $11.4 million to resolve allegations that it violated the Federal Acquisition Regulations (“FAR”) and the FCA. According to the allegations, Northrop failed to comply with its 2002 settlement agreement with the Defense Contract Management Agency (“DMCA”) by charging deferred compensation awards to key employees to its federal contracts,
British Iraq Contractor, APTx Vehicle Systems, agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations that it defrauded the U.S. by making false claims in a contract for the procurement of 51 vehicles for the Iraqi Police Authority. Specifically, APTx falsely submitted shipping documents which indicated that it had produced and was able to ship the 51 vehicles,
Defense subcontractor, Robbins, LLC, settled False Claims Act allegations filed by a former employee, James Brown of Temple, Georgia. Mr. Brown filed the suit alleging that Robbins used an expired ingredient, Elastomag 170, when mixing a rubber compound used in sonar nose cones for U.S. Navy ships. Goodrich subcontracted with Robbins to prepare two rubber compounds which would form the outer layers of the sonar nose cones.
Calnet Inc., which provided intelligence analysis, information technology and translation services to the Department of Defense (DoD), agreed to pay $18.1 million to settle a claim that the company inflated its rates on three contracts with the DoD from 2006 to 2010. The contracts were to provide translation services to the federal government at Guantanamo Bay,
In a Qui Tam False Claims Act suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, ATK Launch Systems Inc., has agreed to pay the United States $21 million and provide necessary in-kind services worth $15,967,160 in reparation costs for 76,000 malfunctioning para-flares that were sold to the government.
If you are aware of any person, corporation or entity that you think may be violating the Federal False Claims Act or a State False Claims Act, contact us today.