Judge Recommends No Partial Win In Furniture Co. FCA Suit

A Texas magistrate judge recommended denying a whistleblowing furniture manufacturer's bid for an early win in its antitrust and False Claims Act suit against rival companies Thursday, writing that it hadn't proven those rivals lied to the government about being owned by women to gain certain contracts.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela A. Mathy wrote in her report and recommendation Thursday that a factual dispute remains over whether the Avteq Inc. companies are owned by women, and said the motion for summary judgment filed by University Loft Co. should be denied. read more »

NJ Military Contractor Settles Fraud Claims For $1.1M

A New Jersey-based military contractor, its parent company and affiliates have agreed to pay $1.1 million to resolve civil claims that they used shell companies to bill for more work than was actually performed in a contract involving the Kuwait-Iraq war zone, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said Thursday.

The civil settlement resolves alleged False Claims Act violations by Galaxy Scientific Corp. and its parent, Virginia-based SRA International Inc., that were lodged in a federal lawsuit by a Galaxy contracting officer, who will get $250,000 from the qui tam settlement.

Galaxy used shell affiliates to “improperly induce the government to fund and award task orders, disguise actual costs, misrepresent what work was actually performed, and capture unlawful profit,” Fishman said. The illicit profits were fetched through two task orders in a contract involving “communications in the Kuwait-Iraq theater of operations," Fishman said. read more »