Government Contract Cases

In yet another antidumping U.S. False Claims Act lawsuit where a company throws its dishonest competitor under the bus, electrode manufacturer, Graphite Electrode Sales Inc. filed a qui tam claim against rival Ameri-Source for allegedly scheming to avoid paying import duties on its Chinese-made graphite electrodes.

Ameri-Source agreed to pay $3 million to resolve the allegations and Graphite Electrode Sales was granted a $480K reward for filing the whistleblower claim that exposed the fraudulent acts.

Whistleblower Graphite Electrode Alleges Customs Duty Evasion via Misrepresentation

Graphite Electrode became suspicious of Ameri-Source when it learned that, between December of 2009 and March of 2012, the Pennsylvania-based rival company allegedly evaded duties on 15 shipments of small-diameter graphite electrodes from China by knowingly misrepresenting that they were duty free large-diameter electrodes. Graphite Electrode filed a whistleblower lawsuit under the qui tam provision of the FCA in 2013 and the U.S. government opted to intervene (took over prosecution of the whistleblower case) in February 2016....

In a message that precedes the Annual Report to Congress from the IRS’s Whistleblower Program, its Director Lee D. Martin addressed several key issues, most notably, the need to reduce the lifecycle of whistleblower claims. While praising the results of the program in terms of tax collections, the Director saw fit to address a problem many whistleblowers have encountered when reporting unlawful conduct by US taxpayers.
According to the report, Fiscal Year 2015 was a “big...

Whistleblowers are showing their persistence in continuing to pursue qui tam cases after the government declines to intervene and 2015 was the most profitable year yet for whistleblower recoveries in declined cases. When a whistleblower lawsuit is filed, it is under seal until the Department of Justice (DOJ) can review the case and decide one of three actions.
They can recommend to the court the case be dropped for lack of substance, they can take over the lawsuit from the whistleblower...

What do Parsons Government Services and four Florida HCA hospitals have in common? They’re the two major contributors of the notable $7 million sum collected by the South Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office through fiscal year 2015 civil and criminal actions.
According to a December 3 U.S. Attorney’s Office statement, U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles announced that the District of South Carolina collected nearly $4.5 million in criminal actions and over $2.6 million in civil...

United Parcel Service (UPS) has agreed to pay $4.2 million to fourteen states, as well as the District of Columbia, New York City, and Chicago. This settlement resolves allegations that the major package delivery company regularly falsified shipment records, essentially charging the government for faster shipping than it delivered.

Ex-UPS Employee Robert Fulk’s Lawsuit Spotlights More UPS Government Contract Chicanery

The case was initiated by former UPS employee Robert Fulk under the whistleblower provisions of the federal False Claims Act, as well as the false claims laws in each state and city involved in the settlement. This settlement provides further resolution to an ongoing case between the government and UPS. In May 2015, UPS settled with the federal government and the state of New Jersey for more than $25 million over similar allegations, also stemming from Fulk’s whistleblowing....

A $30 million False Claims Act settlement was announced today in the U.S. Investigations Services (USIS) whistleblower initiated lawsuit that accused USIS and Altegrity, its parent company of fraudulent conduct as reported by former USIS executive Blake Percival under the whistleblower provisions of the act.

Blake Percival filed a lawsuit alleging that USIS violated the FCA by committing government contract fraud, breaching the terms of their contract to provide background checks for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). USIS provided background checks for OPM from 1996 until September 2014. The suit alleged that between at least March 2008 and September 2012, USIS failed to adhere to contractually promised quality reviews of these background checks.

USIS Executive Blake Percival Says Fired for Reporting Fraud

Mr. Percival was an executive at USIS, working for the company from 2001 to June 2011, most notably as the Director of Fieldwork Services. Percival further alleged that he was fired in retaliation for refusing to have those employees under his supervision participate in fraudulent activity. [break]...

Washington DC school district’s food vendor Chartwells has agreed to settle a DC False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit at $19 million to resolve allegations that it overcharged the city for school food supplies. Whistleblower Jeffrey Mills will receive a portion of that settlement for exposing the alleged contract breaches in a not yet announced amount, typically 15 to 25% of the settlement. Mills urges school districts using private food vendors to inspect vendor contracts and performance.

Whistleblower Jeffrey Mills Alleges Chartwells Cost School District Millions

Jeffrey Mills, former Director of the Office of Food and Nutritional Services for the Washington DC school district, filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Chartwells and Thompson Hospitality, the group that provided food services for the district’s schools since 2008....

United Parcel Service (UPS) has agreed to pay $25 million to the federal government to resolve allegations that the company submitted false claims to the government in order to hide its late delivery of overnight packages.

The civil settlement resolves claims filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows private citizens to file suit on behalf of the United States government and to share in the government’s financial recovery.

Whistleblower Robert Fulk Says UPS Management Ignored His Report – Files Whistleblower Lawsuit

The whistleblower lawsuit against UPS was brought by Robert K. Fulk, a former UPS employee, who for his efforts will get 15 percent of the settlement or $3.75 million. Reuters quoted Fulk’s lawyer as saying her client was brushed off when he questioned his manager about the false claims. Fulk left UPS before filing his lawsuit....