News
WASHINGTON – United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) has agreed to pay $25 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims to the federal government in connection with its delivery of Next Day Air overnight packages, the Justice Department announced today. UPS is a package delivery company based in Atlanta.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Global Computer Enterprises, Inc. (GCE), of Reston, Virginia, along with its president and sole owner, Raed Muslimani, 53, of Sterling, Virginia, have agreed to pay $9 million to settle civil claims stemming from allegations that GCE concealed its utilization of prohibited engineers and employees on software services contracts with the federal government.
Yesterday, U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Boston-based special agents recovered a Works Progress Administration (WPA) oil painting entitled "White House" by Stewart Wheeler.
Timothy Francis Cashman, a Building Manager for the General Services Administration (“GSA”), admitted today to an almost decade-long conspiracy to accept bribes and steal property owned by the United States. In doing so, Cashman acknowledged using his position with GSA (overseeing operations and maintenance at the Otay Mesa, San Ysidro, and Tecate Ports of Entry) for his personal enrichment; rather than to fulfill GSA’s core mission of delivering “the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to government and the American people.”
SAN FRANCISCO- Jeffrey Neely, the former Acting Regional Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), pleaded guilty in federal court in San Francisco today to making a false claim to the United States, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag and GSA Office of Inspector General, Acting Special Agent in Charge Theresa Quellhorst.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that, on March 18, a federal grand jury in Harrisburg indicted Scott J. Robinson, of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, charging him with theft of government property.
WASHINGTON – Terrell McCray, 31, a former employee of the District of Columbia Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services (DCFEMS), pled guilty today to using government-issued credit cards to make purchases over $4,000 in gasoline for personal vehicles, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Robert C. Erickson, Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).
A Miami resident was sentenced to 27 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, and was ordered to pay restitution of $196,645 to the Internal Revenue Service.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Robert C. Erickson, Deputy Inspector General, General Services Administration Office of the Inspector General (GSA-OIG), made the announcement.
DENVER – Hemal Ramesh Jhaveri, age 52, of Lone Tree, Colorado, pled guilty this week before Chief U.S. District Court Chief Marcia S. Krieger to conspiracy to defraud the United States, federal authorities announced. Chief Judge Krieger is scheduled to sentence Jhaveri on June 15, 2015. Jhaveri was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on August 6, 2014. An information was subsequently filed on March 16, 2015, the same day he pled guilty. Jhaveri is free on bond.
DES MOINES, IA – On March 12, 2015, Omaha, Nebraska contractor Ram Hingorani, age 50, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose to 6 months in a half-way house as part of a sentence of two years of probation, after pleading guilty to Major Program Fraud in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. Hingorani’s company, Midwest Paving, Inc. (MPI), was sentenced to two years of probation, after pleading guilty to money laundering in furtherance of the scheme.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Lend Lease Construction, Inc., a global company locally based in Rockville, Maryland, and Cindell Construction Company, based in Frederick, Maryland, agreed to pay a total of $400,000 to settle False Claims Act allegations in connection with an agreement to perform construction work to renovate a property the government is currently leasing in Reston, Virginia known as “Patriots Park.”
WASHINGTON – Kimberley Pinkney, a former inspector with the District of Columbia Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services (DCFEMS), pled guilty today to using her government-issued credit card to purchase over $11,000 in gasoline for her personal vehicle, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Robert C. Erickson, Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).
Baltimore, Maryland - Department of Defense contractor Tangible Software, Inc., owned and operated by Energy Management and Security Solutions, LLC since 2011, has agreed to pay the United States between $500,000 and $1.05 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that the company submitted false claims to the Department of Defense under prior ownership from 2008 to 2011.
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Dawn Hamilton, 48, of Brownsville, Maryland, the chief executive officer and “figurehead” of a now-defunct Virginia-based security contracting firm, Security Assistance Corporation (“SAC”), has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle civil claims arising from a fraudulent scheme to establish SAC as a front company, which obtained more than $31 million in contract payments intended for disadvantaged small businesses through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Section 8(a) program.
A Palmdale, California resident who defrauded a federal government program designed to provide computers to needy schools and non-profits was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 10 years in prison for wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and filing a false income tax return, announced Acting United States Attorney Annette L. Hayes. STEVEN ALEXANDER BOLDEN, 51, pleaded guilty in January 2014. His sentencing was delayed while criminal charges in California were resolved.
Two pieces of New Deal era art were recently located in Oregon and Texas and reclaimed by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).
A federal grand jury has indicted a former federal employee for multiple counts of wire fraud and mail fraud, and making false statements in connection with an extensive scheme to fraudulently obtain federal and state benefits, announced Acting United States Attorney Annette L. Hayes. DARRYL LEE WRIGHT, 46, of Snoqualmie, Washington, will appear today in U. S. District Court in Tacoma at 2:30 p.m.
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Keith Hedman, 55, of Arlington, Virginia, the former chief executive officer of a Virginia-based security contracting firm, Protection Strategies, Inc., (PSI), has agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle civil claims relating to his involvement in a fraudulent scheme to create a front company to obtain contracts through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Section 8(a) program. The Section 8(a) program allows qualified small businesses to receive sole-source and competitive-bid contracts set aside for minority-owned and disadvantaged small businesses.
WASHINGTON – Iron Mountain Incorporated and Iron Mountain Information Management LLC have agreed to pay $44.5 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that Iron Mountain overcharged federal agencies for record-storage services under General Services Administration contracts, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that DHS Technologies LLC and its subsidiary, DHS Systems LLC (collectively “DHS”), have agreed to pay $1.9 million, plus interest, to the United States to resolve allegations that DHS violated the False Claims Act by failing to disclose to the General Services Administration (“GSA”) that it offered greater discounts to a private company for the same items during the negotiation for the re-award of a government contract.
Washington Gas Energy Systems (WGESystems) has agreed to pay more than $2.5 million in fines and monetary penalties for conspiring to commit fraud on the United States by illegally obtaining contracts that were meant for small, disadvantaged businesses.
The General Services Administration (GSA) recently reclaimed five New Deal era Thomas Laman-Hardy murals that had been commissioned by the Treasury Relief Arts Project (TRAP) for the Eureka Federal
SAN FRANCISCO – A federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted Jeffrey Neely, a former high-ranking official with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), today on charges that he submitted fraudulent reimbursement claims and made false statements, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag and GSA Office of Inspector General, Special Agent in Charge David House.
The General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) and Fine Arts Program (FAP) recently recovered 48 pieces of New Deal era artwork in Portland, Oregon.
The General Services Administration Office (GSA) of Inspector General (OIG) and Fine Arts Program (FAP) recently recovered a 1939 Works Progress Administration oil painting, “Snow Covered Marsh” by