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Government Contracts Monitor

Fraud

Tumbling Dice: Employees Bribe Official to Score Government Contracts

The Justice Department just announced the entry of pleas by two employees of a machine products company in Georgia: Thomas Cole, the General Manager, and Fredrick Simon, a sales order processor.  Cole and Simon pleaded guilty to bribing a public official working for Maintenance Center Albany (MCA), a military organization at the Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, in order to get contracts…

“YOU AIN’T GOT NOTHIN’ ON ME!”

The Government disagrees.  Policy statements from the current administration regarding corporate officer liability have warned of a more aggressive stance in prosecution of corporate officers under the Responsible Corporate Office Doctrine.  Though not used extensively in recent years, the Doctrine is well known as a result of the United States v. Park, 421 U.S. 658 (1975), in which…

Truth or Dare: The Benefits of Voluntary Disclosure and Cooperation in False Claims Investigations

Montgomery, Alabama construction company Caddell Construction Co. (“Caddell”) recently agreed to a non-prosecution agreement in which the company will pay a $2 million penalty to resolve Department of Justice (DOJ) allegations that the company made false statements in connection with the Mentor-Protégé and Indian Incentive Programs.

Caddell worked on three military construction projects at Fort…

Another Stiff Sentence for Veteran Falsely Claiming a Service-Disability

A 70 year old man was recently sentenced to over seven years in federal prison for falsely claiming to be a service-disabled veteran and war hero in order to obtain nearly $6.8 million dollars in federal contracts set aside under the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOB) Program.  This harsh sentence is yet another example of the Federal Government’s increased focus on…

Diamonds May Be Forever But So Is A Felony Conviction

In United States v. Rabinowitz, No. 11-CR-230, Jerome Rabinowitz was indicted in the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division on multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and false statements. Mr. Rabinowitz was the owner of J&W Technologies, LLC (“J&W”), a New York corporation and DOD contractor that sold and supplied parts to the DOD.  The items at issue included a…

Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Programs for Small Business R&D Contracts Continue to Evolve

As detailed in a recent report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), federal agency efforts to address fraud, waste, and abuse in small business research and development contracts are continuing to develop into more robust programs that remain agency-specific but will increasingly reflect a common set of strategies.

The GAO prepared the report, “Small Business Research Programs:…

False Claims Act - Double Trouble

Taxpayers Against Fraud recently released information about fiscal year 2012 recoveries under the False Claims Act.  The $9 billion collected in 2012 doubled that collected in 2011.  The 2012 sum includes criminal fines and civil settlements from both federal and state FCA cases.  The largest settlements were from the pharmaceutical and banking industries.  Notably, 28 of the 30 largest settlements…

Conviction In Chinese Ammunition Case is Upheld on Appeal

On June 27, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the convictions and four-year prison sentence of Ralph Merrill, an investor in AEY and a munitions dealer based in Miami Beach, Florida.  Merrill was charged with concealing from the government that the millions of rounds of ammunition AEY sold pursuant to a $298 million dollar Army contract were actually…

The Affordable Care Act’s “Hidden” Enforcement Initiatives

With all the media focus on the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) regarding the individual mandate provision and the political impact of the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the law on the November elections, a significant portion of the law has gone virtually without discussion – the enhanced enforcement tools in the ACA which will impact the health care industry for many years.

The ACA provides…

The Race to Suspend & Debar Heats Up

We recently wrote about the November 15, 2011 directive from the Director of OMB telling agencies to step up their suspension and debarment procedures.  Click hereto read the OMB directive in its entirety.   

More current events make clear that Congress means business when it comes to this issue.

 

First, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012.  This…

Suspension & Debarment Gets A Push From OMB

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The Government Accountability Office recently found that most federal agencies lack active and effective suspension and debarment programs, putting the government at unnecessary risk of waste, fraud, and abuse.

To remedy this situation, the Director of OMB has directed agencies to take the following actions:

  1. Appoint a senior official who will be responsible for assessing the agency's…

 

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