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Fort Stewart contractor that posed as small business forfeits $7.8 million

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A company that rents tents and other outdoor structures for events agreed to pay the government $7.8 million to settle charges that it wrongly won Defense Department set-aside contracts reserved for small businesses.

Arena Americas, which does business from multiple locations as Arena Event Services, settled after a False Claims Act investigation conducted by the Army Criminal Investigation Command, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the inspector general of the Small Business Administration.

The agreement details how Arena Americas worked with Military Training Solutions LLC to obtain small business defense contracts that were represented as being performed by Military Training Solutions, but were actually performed by Arena Americas.

“As a result of this scheme, which was perpetuated at Fort Stewart, Ga., and at other military installations across the United States, millions of dollars in defense contracts wrongfully were awarded to Arena Americas instead of legitimate small businesses,” said Bobby Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, in a statement. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will not tolerate any attempts to illegally exploit the system for a company’s personal advantage” in obtaining the set-asides that Congress intended as a tool to help grow small businesses.

Keep reading this article at: https://m.govexec.com/contracting/2018/10/defense-contractor-who-posed-small-business-forfeits-78-million/151951

See statement by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia at: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdga/pr/defense-contractor-agrees-pay-united-states-78-million-settle-false-claims-act

Small business fraud leads to large monetary liability in recent cases

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Two Washington, D.C. area government contractors have agreed to pay the government for their respective roles in defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in schemes to fraudulently obtain government contracts set aside for small businesses.  These two cases highlight the importance of small business compliance and the submission of accurate and complete certifications.

the first company had to pay $16 million for violating the False Claims Act (FCA).

In the second instance, company owners paid $1.25 million — and got prison time — for 8(a) set-aside contract fraud.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/small-business-fraud-leads-to-large-36348/

 

Indictment in $40 million alleged fraud case signals increased scrutiny of SDVOSB contractors

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On December 1, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the federal grand indictment of an army veteran for allegedly engaging in major government program fraud by using his status as a service-disabled veteran to obtain contracts set-aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs), despite the fact that he did not control the management and daily operations of the company to which the contracts were awarded.

In the case, U.S. v. Dial Jr., the veteran has been charged with four counts of major program fraud as well as wire fraud in connection with his company United Medical Design Builders, LLC (“UMDB”) receiving over $40 million in government contract funds from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 2008 and 2015.

Specifically, the Government alleged that Dial, who is a disabled Army veteran, acted only as a “figurehead” of UMDB in order for UMDB to obtain a SDVOSB set-aside contract to build health care facilities.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9b298da1-560e-43ad-86b2-2768bc5ba765

“Reverse” False Claims Act liability extended to bonding companies

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On Monday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that bonding companies can be held liable for treble damages under the False Claims Act for issuing surety bonds to construction companies that falsely claim to be a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB).

In a novel reverse False Claims Act case, whistleblower Andrew Scollick alleged that the bonding companies “knew or should have known” the construction companies were shell companies acting as a front for larger non-veteran owned entities violating the government’s contracting requirements.

A reverse false claim action can occur when defendants knowingly make a false statement in order to avoid having to pay the government when payment is otherwise due in violation of 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(1)(G) (reverse false claims).  See United States ex. rel. Scollick v. Narula, Case No: 14-cv-01339-RCL (District Court, District of Columbia. July 31, 2017).

Under the Miller Act, government construction contractors must post bid bonds, performance bonds, and payment bonds that guarantee that the contractor will perform the work according to the terms of the contract. In this case, the contract terms required that the construction be performed by a SDVOSB entity.  Michael Kohn, of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, who represents the whistleblower, argued that given their role in providing a surety bond to the contractor the bonding companies would know whether the invoicing being billed against the contract is being performed by a SDVOSB.  The district court agreed and found that a “reverse false claims” violation occurred because the bonding company knew or should have known that the construction organization was not a SDVOSB and the act of issuing surety bonds furthered the fraud.  As a result, the bonding companies were held legally obligated to return to the government funds the bonding company knew to be paid to contractor firms fraudulently posing as SDVOSBs. Being held liable under the False Claims Act means that treble damages will be awarded for every dollar up to the amount of the bond that the government paid out under each contract.

Because of the substantial dollar amounts involved, it is not all that uncommon for contractors to falsify service-disabled veteran status. Holding bonding companies liable when they have reason to know of the fraud could have an immense impact on stamping out such contract fraud. “Holding bonding companies liable for treble damages in these types of case will have a huge impact on preventing fraud in government contracts and will help ensure these contracts go to disabled veteran-owned companies as intended,” said Kohn.

The Scollick case alleges that two of the largest surety bonding companies, Hanover Insurance Company and Hudson Insurance Company, knowingly bonded dozens of Veteran Administration construction contracts totaling more than $12.5 million with the knowledge that the bonded contractors did not qualify as service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses.

 

Source: http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=211708

S.C. feds allege contractor, associates bilked government of $350 million

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SC Fraud 08.2016Federal prosecutors have indicted five men, two women and two corporations, alleging they illegally won government contracts worth some $350 million by misrepresenting themselves as straw companies controlled by either low-income men and women or disabled veterans.

Most of the seven are from the Columbia, South Carolina area.

An 18-count indictment in the case charges that Thomas Brock, 49 of Camden; Jerry Eddins, 66, of Aspermont, Texas; Harry Michael White, 65, of Columbia; Cory J. Adams, 43, of Columbia; Tory Brock, 51, of Camden; Alfonza McCutchen Jr., 39, of Irmo; and Allison Amanda Sauls, 46, of New York, N.Y., secretly set up an interlocking set of businesses and conspired to defraud the federal government by falsifying their eligibility to get government contracts.

The conspirators also identified, created and recruited “businesses owned by qualifying minorities, women, veterans and disabled veterans” and “hid their roles in the companies from the Small Business Administration and the Veterans Administration,” the indictment states.

Jury convicts contractor of defrauding city’s womens business program

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FBI SealA federal jury on Friday (June 17, 2016) convicted a suburban Chicago construction subcontracting firm on fraud charges for scheming to help a general contractor falsely satisfy the woman’s business enterprise (WBE) requirement on city of Chicago construction projects.

As the owner of the WBE, Elizabeth Perino agreed to allow her company to be claimed as a subcontractor on city projects so that the prime contractor could satisfy its requirement to assign a portion of the work to female-owned businesses.  Perino falsified paperwork to conceal the fact that her business, Perdel Contracting Co., would perform no actual work on the projects.  As a result of Perino’s fraud, Perdel expected to receive payment equivalent to a percentage of the work that Perdel Contracting fraudulently claimed to have performed.

Perino, 62, was convicted on three counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud.  The conviction is punishable by a maximum sentence of 80 years in prison.  U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman indicated he will schedule a sentencing hearing at a later date.

Background

A city of Chicago ordinance establishes an overall goal of awarding at least 5% of total annual funding of all city contracts to WBEs.  The city’s program mirrors the federal government’s WOSB, or women-owned small-business, contracting program.  For contracts with values exceeding $10,000, each contractor has to commit a certain percentage of labor to WBEs, either as a joint venture or subcontractor, or by purchasing goods or services from a WBE.  In addition to being a WBE, the Perdel firm, which specializes in concrete and carpentry work, also qualified to participate in city projects as a certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE).  The DBE program is a requirement by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, applicable to federally-assisted transportation projects like airports, highways, and public transit systems.

Facts

Evidence at the four-day trial revealed:

  • Perino and a co-worker agreed to act as a “pass-through” WBE/DBE on two city projects, meaning that Perdel’s employees would perform no work and Perdel’s equipment would not be used.
  • For one of the projects – at O’Hare International Airport – Perino agreed to place the general contractor’s employees on Perdel’s payroll to perform the work that would be credited to Perdel.
  • Perino also entered into a sham contract to “purchase” street sweepers from the general contractor and title them in Perdel’s name while the general contractor’s workers performed the street sweeping as purported employees of Perdel.  Perino and the general contractor further agreed that, at the conclusion of the O’Hare project, the street sweepers would be returned to the general contractor for $1 per machine, and Perdel would receive 18% on top of the labor costs and $20 per hour for the street sweepers.

The conviction was announced by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, along with representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Inspector General’s offices of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, the U.S. Dept. of Labor, and the City of Chicago.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/jury-convicts-lockport-contractor-defrauding-city-chicago-s-women-owned-business-entity

See the FBI’s 2012 announcement of the charges filed against Perino at: https://www.fbi.gov/chicago/press-releases/2012/two-area-contractors-charged-with-fraud-involving-minority-and-women-set-asides-for-government-construction-contracts

Construction company pays $5.4 million over disadvantaged business fraud claims

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DBE FraudA San Diego-based construction company has paid $5.4 million to resolve allegations that it fraudulently billed the federal government for work on multiple projects on military bases, including Camp Pendleton, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.

It was alleged that Harper Construction Company Inc. knowingly used sham, small disadvantaged businesses and then falsely certified to the government that it used legitimate small disadvantaged businesses.

Harper Construction, a privately held general contractor, earns a substantial portion of its revenue through government contracting on construction projects across the country, prosecutors said.

The settlement involves four government contracts to construct facilities at Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The contracts required Harper to subcontract a certain percentage of work to small disadvantaged businesses.

Keep reading this article at: http://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2016/06/01/san-diego-construction-company-pays-5-4m-fraud-claims/

Read earlier report on this case at: http://gtpac.org/?p=7837

Company pays $5 million for exploiting SDVOSB contracts

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Fraud Waste AbuseNew York-based Hayner Hoyt Corporation has agreed to pay $5 million, plus interest, to resolve allegations that its chairman and chief executive officer, Gary Thurston, its president, Jeremy Thurston, employees, Ralph Bennett and Steve Benedict and Hayner Hoyt affiliates LeMoyne Interiors and Doyner Inc., engaged in conduct designed to exploit contracting opportunities reserved for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs).

The United States has long used government contracting to promote small businesses in general and specifically small businesses owned by veterans who have service-connected disabilities.  Congress has established a targeted procurement program for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which requires the VA to set annual goals for contracting with SDVOSBs.  To be eligible for these contracts, an applicant must qualify as a “small business.”  In addition to being a small business, a service-disabled veteran must own and control the business and handle its strategic decisions and day-to-day management.

The settlement resolves allegations that the defendants orchestrated a scheme designed to take advantage of the SDVOSB program to secure government contracts for a now-defunct company, 229 Constructors LLC, that Gary and Jeremy Thurston created and controlled and subcontracts for Hayner Hoyt and its affiliates.  The Thurstons – neither of whom is a veteran – exerted significant influence over 229 Constructors’ decision-making during the bid, award and performance of these contracts in various ways, including by staffing the company entirely with then-current and former Hayner Hoyt employees and their spouses.  They also provided 229 Constructors with considerable resources, which provided it with a competitive advantage over legitimate SDVOSBs neither affiliated with nor controlled by a larger, non-veteran owned corporation.  Hayner Hoyt officials caused false certifications and statements to be made to the government representing that 229 Constructors met all requirements to be a SDVOSB when they knew, or should have known, that 229 Constructors did not meet such requirements.  By diverting contracts and benefits intended for service-disabled veterans to Hayner Hoyt and its affiliates, the defendants undercut Congress’s intent of encouraging contract awards to legitimate SDVOSBs.

The investigation revealed that Bennett – a service-disabled veteran who allegedly ran 229 Constructors, served as its president and oversaw its $14.4 million government-contracts portfolio – was not involved in making important business decisions for the company.  He was instead responsible for overseeing Hayner Hoyt’s tool inventory and plowing snow from Hayner Hoyt’s property.  Jeremy Thurston set up an email account in Bennett’s name in such a way that all emails received by the veteran were automatically forwarded to him.  After the government began to question 229 Constructors’ affiliation with Hayner Hoyt, Gary Thurston wrote others that he and Jeremy Thurston would likely terminate operations of 229 Constructors.  A few months later, service-disabled veteran Bennett and Benedict, who was simultaneously the “co-owner” of 229 Constructors and listed on Hayner Hoyt’s website as one of its five “key” officials, transferred a total of $52,000 to Gary Thurston’s personal bank account allegedly to show their appreciation for the assistance he had provided.

Defendants make various admissions in the settlement agreement, including that their conduct violated federal regulations designed to encourage contract awards to legitimate SDVOSBs.  They also admit that 229 Constructors provided more than $1.3 million in SDVOSB subcontracts to Hayner Hoyt, LeMoyne Interiors and Doyner and that those companies generated $296,819 in gross profits as a result.

“Those who do business with the federal government must do so honestly,” said U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian for the Northern District of New York  “As today’s settlement demonstrates, this office will vigorously pursue those individuals and entities who game programs designed to help our nation’s veterans succeed in starting small businesses.”

The government’s investigation was triggered by a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows private persons, known as “relators,” to file civil actions on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery.  The relator in this case will receive $875,000 of the settlement proceeds.  The case is docketed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York under number 14-cv-830.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/hayner-hoyt-corporation-pay-5-million-resolve-false-claims-act-liability

 

Yet another DBE fraud case: Steel company execs get $1 million fine, 5 years’ probation

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Phony owner of DBE gets 3 years of probation and is ordered to pay $336,219 in restitution.

Two Pennsylvania men who funneled business to their family’s steel construction firm by using a shell company to qualify as a disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) must repay the government $1 million.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel last week sentenced brothers Dennis Weber, 66, and Dale Weber, 52, to five years of probation and ordered them to pay restitution to the government for the scheme, which netted Carl M. Weber Steel Service hundreds of government construction contacts between 1995 and 2011.

Stengel also sentenced Judy Noll, of Mertztown, the owner of Karen Construction, to three years of probation and ordered her to pay $336,219 in restitution, according to a court filing Wednesday.

Each pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Their attorneys could not be reached.

Prosecutors said Karen Construction was a sham that the three used to obtain bridge and highway construction contracts through a U.S. Department of Transportation program for disadvantaged businesses.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-berks-steel-fraud-sentences-20160207-story.html

Construction officials pay $1 million to settle DBE fraud

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Justice Dept. sealAn upstate New York construction company and three individuals have paid $1,012,000 to resolve claims that they defrauded a government program designed to benefit women- and minority-owned contractors, announced U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian. The settling parties are ING Civil, Inc. and its owner, Corey Ingerson; James Beaudoin, who is the former president of Rexford Albany Municipal Supply Company, Inc. (RAMSCO); and former RAMSCO salesman John Leary.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has promulgated regulations intended to provide opportunities for businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals to perform work on projects financed, at least in part, by the federal government. USDOT also administers a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program that requires state and local governments receiving federal funding to establish goals for the participation of DBEs on federally-funded projects. A contractor may claim credit for a DBE’s participation on a project only if the DBE serves a “commercially useful function.” A DBE performs a commercially useful function when it is responsible for execution of a distinct element of work on a contract. A DBE does not serve a commercially useful function if its role is limited to that of an extra participant to a transaction through which funds are passed to create the impression that members of a historically disadvantaged group worked on a contract.

The settlements resolve the following allegations:

  • In 2009, when preparing to submit a bid to the City of Cohoes to reconstruct the Bridge Avenue Bridge over the Mohawk River, Corey Ingerson spoke with John Leary to see if RAMSCO would provide a quote for materials that ING Civil would need if awarded the project. Leary explained to Ingerson that RAMSCO could both provide the materials for the project and bill them through a DBE, American Indian Builders & Suppliers, Inc. (AIB), to help ING Civil satisfy the project’s DBE goals. Shortly thereafter, Ingerson learned that ING Civil had been awarded the project, and he signed a DBE Utilization Worksheet representing that AIB would supply $306,285 worth of materials for the project. When Ingerson signed the DBE Utilization Worksheet agreeing to work with AIB, he knew virtually nothing about the company and had not had any substantive discussions with anyone from AIB about the materials needed for the project. All of Ingerson’s discussions on that topic were with RAMSCO officials. ING Civil ended up purchasing all materials on its DBE Utilization Worksheet from RAMSCO, rather than AIB.
  • In November 2010, after work on the Bridge Avenue Bridge was substantially complete, local government officials asked Ingerson to document ING Civil’s DBE expenditures on the project. Ingerson then contacted Leary to explain that ING Civil did not have the documentation necessary to support a claim that it had purchased materials from AIB, as it had represented it would do on its DBE Utilization Worksheet. At that time, Leary and Ingerson decided to prepare documents to create the appearance that the materials ING Civil purchased from RAMSCO had been purchased from AIB. Over the next few months, officials from ING Civil, RAMSCO, and AIB exchanged invoices, purchase orders and other documents to make it appear as though ING Civil had purchased materials from AIB that it had actually purchased from RAMSCO. In February 2011, ING Civil submitted electronic documentation to the City of Cohoes falsely representing that it had satisfied its DBE goals on the project by working with AIB.

In the settlement agreement, Ingerson admitted that he made a false filing indicating that materials for the Bridge Avenue Bridge project had been supplied by AIB when, at the time he made that filing, he knew the materials had been provided by RAMSCO, which was not a DBE. Beaudoin (for RAMSCO) and Leary admitted that they took steps to aid ING Civil in making that false filing. The parties also acknowledged that their conduct violated the False Claims Act.

In August 2015, HD Supply Waterworks, a company that acquired RAMSCO, paid $4,945,000 to resolve allegations that it also enabled several prime contractors to represent falsely that AIB had performed commercially useful functions on federally-funded contracts. Each of these investigations and settlements were the result of a coordinated effort among the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, USDOT’s Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General, with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York State Department of Transportation’s Investigations Bureau.

Source: http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/upstate-new-york-construction-company-and-individuals-pay-more-1-million-settle-fraud

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