by Ben Vernia | October 14th, 2014
On October 10, the Department of Justice announced that the Boeing Company had settled a whistleblower’s suit which alleged that the company had submitted false aircraft maintenance labor charges. According to DOJ’s press release:
The Boeing Company paid $23 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims for labor charges on maintenance contracts with the U.S. Air Force for the C-17 Globemaster aircraft, the Justice Department announced today. Boeing, an aerospace and defense industry giant, is headquartered in Chicago.
* * *
The government alleged that Boeing improperly charged labor costs under contracts with the Air Force for the maintenance and repair of C-17 Globemaster aircraft at Boeing’s Aerospace Support Center in San Antonio, Texas. The C-17 Globemaster aircraft, which is both manufactured and maintained by Boeing, is one of the military’s major systems for transporting troops and cargo throughout the world. The government alleged that the company knowingly and improperly billed a variety of labor costs in violation of applicable contract requirements, including for time its mechanics spent at meetings not directly related to the contracts.
According to DOJ, the relators – four current and former employees of Boeing in San Antonio, Texas – will share $3.91 million (a 17% relator’s share).
