Sansbury and Buechler, former employees of LB&B Associates, Inc., filed suit under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act for false claims allegedly made by their former employer to the government. Specifically, the former employees alleged that LB&B made false statements to obtain contracts through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) 8(a) Business Development Program…
Last week a federal grand jury in Puerto Rico returned a five count indictment charging three men with a multi-million dollar Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). Justice Department Announcement.
The indictment alleges that from 2007 to 2014, Ivan Rosa-Colon, Jose Rosa-Colon and Torres Louis Enrique…
The General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released its semiannual Report to the Congress detailing its efforts and successes in the important work of detecting fraud and mismanagement within the GSA’s programs and operations. The report, which is required, covers the period between October 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015.
On May 26, 2015, Abel Carreon entered a guilty plea to one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme involving surety bonds and government contracts, the Department of Justice just announced. Court documents state that between 2005 and 2011 Carreon defrauded the United States and government contractors, through his company Tripartite Escrow…
On March 2, 2015, the Department of Defense’s Final Rule, "Federal Acquisition Regulation; Ending Trafficking in Person," available here (the Rule), became effective. Pursuant to the Rule, revised FAR 52.222-50, Combatting Trafficking in Persons, must be included in all contracts and solicitations. Although the Rule implements previous mandates, contractors must be aware of notably…
It is always worth repeating developments that impact our readers. As we previously reported here, 2014 was an exceptional year in False Claims Act enforcement, with the Department of Justice (DOJ) announcing a record $5.69 billion in FCA recoveries. In this regard we admonished our readers that 2015 would be even worse with a notable increase in prosecutorial scrutiny of qui tam…
On March 27th the Department of Justice announced that Lockheed Martin Corporation will pay $2 million for allegedly overbilling the government during its manufacturing of C-130 aircraft for the United States Air Force. Justice Department Press Release.
Lockheed manufactured C-130s for the U.S. Air Force from 2006 to 2013 under contracts where the Government provided Lockheed with up to…
The Department of Justice recently announced that Mozaffar Khazaee has pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act. DOJ Announcement. The violation occurred when Khazaee sent “sensitive, proprietary, trade secret and export controlled material relating to military jet engines for the U.S. Air Force’s F35 Joint Strike Fighter program and the F-22 Raptor program” to…
The Justice Department has announced that a 44 year old retired Army Sergeant Major working as a civilian contracting official for the Army, James Warner, was arrested on January 28th for allegedly soliciting bribes from company executives. DOJ Press Release.
According to the affidavit filed by the government in support of the criminal complaint, Warner met with executives of Company A, a…
In connection with a “pilot program” established by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (NDAA), the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is revising its regulations to expand who may file a whistleblower disclosure with OSC. Under the proposed rule, employees of Federal contractors, subcontractors, and grantees will be able to disclose wrongdoing within the Federal government if they…
The FAR Council recently issued a new Interim Rule (correction here), implementing President Obamas Executive Order 13658 establishing a $10.10 per hour minimum wage for employees of covered federal contractors and subcontractors starting January 1, 2015. The new Rule also implements, for FAR-covered contracts, the Final Rule issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) on October 10, 2014,…
Defense companies often conduct internal audits to ensure the integrity of their business systems. These internal audits may contain information about company operations and internal controls related to the performance of government contracts. Many defense contractors are not willing to share their internal audit reports with the government, and for good reasons.