Reply #9: Jury Finds Custer Battles Liable in Iraq False Claims Act Case

[Judi Lynn]

Jury Finds Custer Battles Liable in Iraq False Claims Act Case
20 Corporate Crime Reporter 11(1), March 9, 2006

A federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia has found contractor Custer Battles and its owners – Scott Custer and Michael Battles – liable for fraud in the first Iraq military contract case prosecuted under the False Claims Act.

The jury hit the defendants with a $10 million judgement.

The case was filed on behalf of the government by two former employees – Robert J. Jackson and William Baldwin.

The federal government refused to join the case.

And Patrick Burns of the advocacy group Taxpayers Against Fraud says it was a political decision.

“I believe this case was declined for political reasons,” Burns said. “The hope was that the whistleblowers would go away and that this case would not be a front page story. Out of sight, out of mind. In Iraq, the U.S. government’s position on fraud has been – don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t listen.”
(snip)

Another trial, with the same set of whistleblowers, is scheduled on a separate $16.8 million contract Custer Battles was awarded to provide security at Baghdad International Airport.

Retired brigadier general Hugh Tant III told the court that Custer Battles' fraud "was probably the worst I've ever seen in my 30 years in the Army."
(snip/...)

http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/custer030906.htm