Overcharge | The Contracting Education Academy

August 23, 2017 By AMK

Active-duty Navy commander pleads guilty to conspiring with foreign defense contractor to defraud Navy

The latest development in the years-long “Fat Leonard” Navy contract corruption scandal is a guilty plea by an active-duty U.S. Navy commander in connection with his efforts to obstruct a federal criminal investigation of the owner and chief executive officer of a multi-national defense contracting firm headquartered in Singapore.

The plea was entered last week by Bobby Pitts who served as the officer in charge of the Navy’s Fleet Industrial Supply Command (FISC) in Singapore.

This development is the most recent in a string of guilty pleas, indictments and convictions – spanning more than three years – related to alleged fraudulent activities of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) and its chief executive, Leonard Glenn “Fat Leonard” Francis. So far, 27 individuals have been charged in connection with the corruption and fraud investigation into GDMA. Of those charged, at least 20 are current or former Navy officials and five are GDMA executives. Several additional cases are pending. Francis’ reputation for corruption and bribery in recent years has led him to be nicknamed “Fat Leonard.” (For background, see The Washington Post article, “The Man Who Seduced the 7th Fleet,” here.)

Bobby Pitts, 48, of Chesapeake, Virginia, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. in connection with the NCIS’s investigation of Francis. Pitts is set to be sentenced on December 1, by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernard Skomal of the Southern District of California, who accepted his plea on August 15, 2017.

According to admissions made as part of his plea agreement, Pitts, as part of his duties in Singapore during the period August 2009 to May 2011, learned that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and several civilian employees of the Navy were investigating whether Francis was over-billing the Navy on ship husbanding contracts. Pitts had access to internal Navy documents pertaining to investigative steps that the Navy was considering and admitted that he shared this information with Francis, with the intent to impede and obstruct the Navy’s oversight of its contracts with GDMA. On Nov. 23, 2010, for example, Pitts forwarded to a representative of GDMA an internal Navy email discussing FISC’s intention to contact officials with the Royal Thai Navy to determine whether GDMA had been billing the U.S. Navy for services in fact rendered by the Thai government.

In pleading guilty, Pitts admitted, among other things, to working with Francis and other foreign-defense-contractor personnel to help them cover up GDMA’s overcharging practices with respect to providing protection to U.S. Navy forces deployed in the Western Pacific.

So far, 18 of 27 defendants charged in the U.S. Navy bribery and fraud scandal have pleaded guilty. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being prosecuted by the Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Southern District of California.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/active-duty-us-navy-commander-pleads-guilty-conspiring-foreign-defense-contractor-defraud-us

For more information on this prosecution, see: http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/?s=fat

August 5, 2016 By AMK

Justice Dept. sues former executives for false claims on reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq

As a follow-up to a $50.6 million corporate settlement in 2010, the U.S. Government now has filed suit under the False Claims Act against two former executives of Louis Berger Group, Inc. (LBG) for conspiring to overbill the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other government agencies for costs incurred performing reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries.

The government’s complaint alleges that Derish M. Wolff and Salvatore J. Pepe, respectively the former CEO and CFO of LBG, designed and directed various accounting schemes that resulted in the company billing the government for indirect overhead costs at inflated rates.

According to the complaint, Wolff and Pepe shifted portions of salaries of LBG executives and accounting personnel from contracts paid for by foreign and state governments and private entities to contracts paid for by the United States. Wolff and Pepe allegedly certified the false rates and submitted them to the government in annual financial reports.

In November 2010, the U.S. resolved criminal and civil claims against LBG arising from this conduct. At that time, LBG entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement and paid $50.6 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations. Pepe pleaded guilty on that date to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the government and was later sentenced to one year probation. Wolff pleaded guilty to the same charge on Dec. 12, 2014, and was later sentenced to 12 months of home confinement and required to pay a $4.5 million fine for his role in the scheme. The complaint filed on July 28, 2016 asserts civil claims against Wolff and Pepe.

The government filed its complaint in a lawsuit originally brought under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, by Harold Salomon, an LBG accountant from March 2002 to October 2005. Under the Act, a private citizen can sue on behalf of the U.S. and share in any recovery. The U.S. is also entitled to intervene in the lawsuit, as it has done in this case.

This matter is being handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, with investigative support from the FBI, USAID’s Office of Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

The case is United States ex rel. Harold Salomon v. Derish M. Wolff & Salvatore J. Pepe, Civ. No. RWT-06-1970 (D. Md.). The claims asserted against Wolff and Pepe are allegations only to the extent not admitted in their criminal pleas, and there has been no determination of civil liability.

May 23, 2016 By AMK

Government settles False Claims Act charge against TVA contractor

The Justice Department, on behalf of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), has reached a settlement with TVA contractor Bartlett Holdings, Inc. (Bartlett), d.b.a. BHI Energy/Sun Technical Services, over alleged violations of the False Claims Act.

Bartlett was alleged to have violated the False Claims Act by knowingly concealing or knowingly and improperly avoiding an obligation to refund over-payments received from TVA for work performed on the project to complete the construction of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 2. Under the terms of the settlement, Bartlett agreed to pay the United States $2.8 million.

In January 2008, Bartlett entered into a subcontract with Bechtel Power Corporation, TVA’s engineering, procurement and construction contractor on the Watts Bar Unit 2 project, to furnish qualified personnel to Bechtel for the project. Bartlett’s subcontract, which was funded by TVA, provided for Bartlett to be reimbursed its actual costs for wages and related expenses, including payroll taxes and insurance incurred for employees working on the project. However, the United States alleged that Bartlett received payments from TVA in excess of actual costs for payroll taxes and insurance and knowingly failed to timely identify, report and refund those over-payments to TVA as required under the subcontract.

“The issue of losing public funds through fraud, waste and abuse is all too well known,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Harr. “Since these losses usually result in increased costs to the public, parties that contract with the government or its agencies must be held to the terms of their contract.”

This settlement resulted from a joint, comprehensive investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the TVA Office of Inspector General (TVA-OIG). In January 2014, the TVA-OIG Audit Division initiated an audit of payments to Bartlett under its subcontract. The U.S. Attorney’s office and TVA-OIG Investigations Division subsequently joined the investigation following the filing of a qui tam or whistleblower complaint in May 2014.

Members of the public are reminded that the claims settled by an agreement such as the one in this case are based on allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Source: May 5, 2016 announcement by the Dept. of Justice at: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtn/pr/united-states-settles-false-claims-act-allegations-against-tva-contractor-bartlett

June 24, 2015 By AMK

Pentagon contractor accused of overcharging millions

The federal government has alleged a military contractor overcharged it by at least $44 million for parts, labor and supplies on a multi-billion dollar contract for tens of thousands of trucks ordered by the Army’s acquisitions center based in Warren, MI.

Filing its complaint in U.S. District Court in Detroit, the Justice Department accused BAE Systems, the American subsidiary of a global defense and security contractor based in London, England, of “certifying and submitting false or fraudulent” prices to contracting officials at Michigan’s Army Tactical Command Life Cycle Management Command (TACOM).

“Private companies are entitled to earn an honest profit from procurement contracts with the U.S. government, but they may not knowingly overcharge the military for supplies and materials,” said U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade in Detroit. “The conduct alleged in this complaint is akin to charging $600 for a hammer.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/2015/06/19/tacom-bae-complaint/28982833/

December 16, 2014 By AMK

War zone food contractor pleads guilty to overcharging

A major supplier of food and bottled water to U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan on Monday of last week pleaded guilty to overcharging the Defense Logistics Agency by $48 million.

Supreme Food Service, whose parent company is based in the Netherlands, agreed to pay $434 million to settle criminal and civil charges for its handling of an $8.8 million contract that was terminated in 2013, according to news reports.

The case decided in U.S. District Court in Eastern Pennsylvania was brought in part by a whistleblower employed by the company, who will receive $16.2 million, plus $1.5 million for attorney’s fees and expenses, according to Bloomberg.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2014/12/war-zone-food-contractor-pleads-guilty-overcharging/100824/

The Justice Department, on behalf of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), has reached a settlement with TVA contractor Bartlett Holdings, Inc. (Bartlett), d.b.a. BHI Energy/Sun Technical Services, over alleged violations of the False Claims Act.

The federal government has alleged a military contractor overcharged it by at least $44 million for parts, labor and supplies on a multi-billion dollar contract for tens of thousands of trucks ordered by the Army’s acquisitions center based in Warren, MI.

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