Former ArmorGroup employee sues under whistleblower laws

by bvernia | September 14th, 2009

In a complaint filed on September 9 in DC District Court, James Gordon, a former executive at the security firm ArmorGroup North America, has sued the company, its parent corporation, and Wackenhut Services, Inc. (a sister company) for adverse employment actions he allegedly suffered after complaining internally and to the Department of State concerning ArmorGroup’s performance of contracts for security services at the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, and at the US Naval Base in Bahrain.

Gordon alleges that as director of operations, “he investigated, attempted to stop, and reported to DoS a myriad of serious violations” including:

  1. Understaffing;
  2. Hiring non-English speaking Gurkha guards;
  3. Allowing company employees to frequent brothels staffed by women trafficked from China (and withholding documents demanded by Rep. Henry Waxman, then-chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform);
  4. Using inadequately protected vehicles for transporting guards;
  5. Using State Department funds to purchase counterfeit goods from a company owned by a manager’s wife; and
  6. Attempting to profit from the contract “with reckless disregard for the safety and security of the guard force, the U.S. Embassy, and its personnel.”

Gordon is represented by Janet Goldstein and Rob Vogel of DC’s Vogel, Slade & Goldstein, LLP, and by Debra Katz and Lisa Banks of Katz, Marshall & Banks LLP, also in DC. Katz and Banks represented two other former ArmorGroup employees in a suit against the company in 2008.

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