Whistleblower Attorneys BlogMorganti Group, Inc. of Danbury, Connecticut has agreed to settle a False Claims Act case with the federal government for $800,000 which accused the construction company of submitting false claims for payment to the U.S. government in connection with two foreign assistance projects. Morganti submitted false documents to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) while bidding for two projects in Jordan: the Greater Amman Water Project in 2000, and the Aqaba Water Project in 2002. Continue reading ›
Articles Posted in Government Contracts
DOJ Cautiously Indicates False Claims Act May Be Used to Recover Deepwater Horizon Disaster Damages
The National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) recently wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to use the False Claims Act (FCA) to recover the most money possible for losses sustained after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. The NWC told Mr. Holder: “When false claims impact the welfare of the entire Gulf Region, the False Claims Act is the appropriate and best legal instrument to enforce true accountability.” Continue reading ›
Federal Jury Convicts Cornell Hospital of Research Grant Fraud
A federal jury in New York has found Cornell University’s Weill Medical Center and former faculty member Wilfred van Gorp guilty of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by defrauding the National Institute of Health (NIH) in a research grant application. Weill Medical Center and Dr. van Gorp applied to NIH for a research grant to train fellows in neuropsychology for a career in HIV/AIDS research. The jury found the defendants guilty of violating the False Claims Act by misrepresenting material information in progress reports which were falsified in order to convince NIH to continue the funding.
Although the research grant was supposed to train fellows for a career in HIV/AIDS research, the defendants apparently required the fellows to treat many private pay-for-service patients with other medical issues. Continue reading ›
Government Joins Case Against Oracle Alleging Overpayment for Software
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has decided to intervene in a False Claims Act case against Oracle Corporation, a software manufacturer that had a contract with the General Service Administration (GSA). The federal government alleges Oracle defrauded the government into overpaying it hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of an eight year contract, from 1998 to 2006.
Contracts with the GSA require the company to disclose its best commercial price and discounts, allowing the government to make an informed decision about prices it then negotiates. Continue reading ›