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Record recovery in Iraq/Afghanistan reconstruction fraud

By Phillips & Cohen LLP

Louis Berger Group Inc., a New Jersey engineering consulting firm, will pay $69.3 million to resolve criminal and civil probes related to overbilling for reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan and other work.

It is the largest recovery in a case involving war-zone contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq and was the result of a qui tam whistleblower lawsuit brought by Harold Salomon. Salomon, formerly a senior financial analyst/auditor for Louis Berger, exposed the company's practice of billing the government for indirect and overhead costs that were unrelated to its government contracts. Louis Berger has some of the biggest U.S. contracts for rebuilding projects in Afghanistan.

The firm also agreed to a "deferred prosecution," under which the government's case will be dropped if the company complies with the terms of the agreement.

Salomon was represented by Peter Chatfield and Tim McCormack of Phillips & Cohen LLP.

Full post as published by False Claims Act - Qui Tam on November 06, 2010 (boomark / email).