KBR has agreed to pay the US government $12 million to settle allegations of inflated billing and kickbacks during 2002-2003 regarding its work supporting the war in Iraq.

At the time, KBR was owned by Halliburton, with the split not occurring until 2007.

The lawsuit concerned the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) that KBR was awarded in 2001 to provide logistical support to the US military in the Middle East.

Three separate KBR employees rigged bidding processes for subcontract work involving trucks and trailers to two different Kuwaiti companies. In return, the employees received kickbacks from those companies. In addition, the third employee extended two contracts for an additional six months, even though the equipment had been returned to the subcontractor.

The settlement amount is actually $13,677,621 and includes $4,253,174 in restitution for over-billing. KBR will have to pay cash of $12 million within 10 days. The other $1.677 million has already been settled by credits that KBR previously provided.

Officially, the settlement agreement is neither an admission of liability by KBR nor a concession by the United States that its claims are not well founded. However, KBR self-reported these violations to the government.

In 2021, following more than seven years of litigation, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas granted partial summary judgment to the United States on several of its False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Act claims. This settlement resolves these allegations and other pending claims and issues, for which trial had been scheduled to commence on May 23.

Last year, the US government obtained a $51 million judgment against KBR concerning a larger overpayment that KBR made to one of the Kuwaiti subcontractors under a separate subcontract in the Iraq Theater.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/kbr-defendants-agree-settle-kickback-and-false-claims-allegations

Another Houston resident has been indicted in the Texas fake paper tag scheme that’s cost the state nearly $100 million dollars. Daniel Rocky Christine-Tani was arrested in Sugar Land and will appear in court on June 2, 2022.

Co-conspirators Leidy Areli Hernandez Lopez, Houston, Emmanuel Padilla Reyes, Houston and Octavian Ocasio from New York were charged in May 2021. The new indictment adds more charges against Reyes, aka Christian Hernandez Bonilla, who remains at large.

I wrote about the scheme in my blog post from May 2021 that highlighted the virtually non-existent controls in the system.

Internal controls lacking

Car dealers in Texas must obtain a GDN (general distinguishing number) license to buy or sell vehicles. The license application portal is online and a license can easily be acquired using fake ID documents, such as a driver license from any state. Once a dealer obtains a GDN license, they can access the online eTag portal of the TX Department of Motor Vehicles to create temporary tags.

However, there were a couple of gaping holes in the system. Firstly, a GDN holder can set up other users on their account who can create and issue temporary tags. Secondly, there are no checks on the vehicle, buyer or vehicle identification number (VIN) entered into the portal.

In that way, the co-conspirators issued 700,000 fake paper plates in a matter of months in 2020. Fake plates were sold for between $125 and $150 each, although more recently plates can be bought for less than $100.

New state law being to have an effect

The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles is a relatively new department, only created in 2009. It only began investigating title fraud in 2014 when it hired its first fraud inspector.  A 2019 report by the Texas Legislature stated that the department had no fraud reporting tools.

The state passed a bill that became law in September 2021 to improve controls over paper plates. For example, the law requires all new  dealer applicants to be fingerprinted in order to obtain a GDN. That has not yet been enacted.

The law also allowed the DMV to deny or revoke a dealer’s access to the eTag portal if there was fraudulent activity. Prior to the law passing, the DMW was specifically prohibited by statute from denying a dealer access to the database.

Limits have also been put in place on the number of tags that a dealer can issue. They appear to be having an effect.

At the February DMV board meeting it was reported that 17 independent dealers were part of an organized criminal group that issued 1.2 million buyer tags in 2021 or 25,000 a week. In 2022, these numbers dropped to a few hundred a week.

However, the criminal group is now moving onto creating tampered documents without using the eTag portal.

If convicted, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/another-indicted-nationwide-fraudulent-car-buyer-paper-tag-scheme

Leidy Areli Hernandez Lopez has been charged in relation to a scheme that issued over 580,000 fake vehicle paper tags.

Also charged are Octavian Ocasio of New York and Emmanuel Padilla Reyes aka Christian Hernandez Bonilla, city unknown. Both men are fugitives and warrants remain outstanding for their arrests.

A quick google search shows that, in February 2016, Ocasio was accused of offering fake New York inspection stickers. It’s not clear whether he was found guilty in that case.

A federal grand jury returned a 15-count indictment on May 20. The fraud mostly operated in 2020 though one count relates to July 2019. The fake tags were generally sold for between $150 and $175 each.

Most residents of Texas are aware that there has been a large problem with fake temporary dealer tags. There have been plenty of stories in recent years on local news and in newspapers. Police in Harris County have estimated that half of the paper tags on Texas roads are fake.

Fake tags are often used by drivers who don’t have insurance or are driving a car that wouldn’t pass inspection.

GDN license – no controls!

In the case of the defendants, it appears that Lopez was acting as a used car dealer. Dealers in Texas must obtain a GDN (general distinguishing number) license to buy or sell vehicles. Once a dealer obtains a GDN license, they can access the online eTag portal of the TX Department of Motor Vehicles to create temporary tags.

However, there are a couple of gaping holes in the system. Firstly, a GDN holder can set up other users on their account who can create and issue temporary tags. Secondly, there are no checks on the vehicle, buyer or vehicle identification number (VIN) entered into the portal.

The defendants advertised the sale of Texas paper tags on Facebook and Instagram to buyers from all over the US.

If convicted each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison and a potential $250,000 maximum fine.

TX Dept of Motor Vehicles

The body that oversees title registration is the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. It was only created in 2009. In 2017 it issued 8.6 million vehicle titles.

According to a report by the Texas Legislature issued in 2019,  the department only began investigating title fraud in 2014 with the hire of ONE fraud inspector. For 2018-2019, the department was authorized to hire 13 additional investigators.

The department is also hampered by weak IT systems. For example, the same report stated that the department has no fraud reporting tools. Part of the problem is that most of the day-to-day title transactions are carried out by the 254 county tax assessor-collector offices. In turn these offices often sub-contract out such services to private companies.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/three-charged-nationwide-scheme-sell-hundreds-thousands-fraudulent-texas-paper-tags

Latoya Romar, from SE Houston, has pleaded guilty to defrauding FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) by falsely claiming a storm damaged her residence.

;

The 2015 Memorial Day storms dumped up to 10 inches of rain over 12 hours. Seven people died as a result of the storms and a federal disaster was declared for Harris County.

Romar submitted forged documents to FEMA, who paid out $7,124 in response to her claim.

A quick google search on Romar turned up a 2009 conviction in Harris County for forgery. In 2007, Romar was employed by Texas State Bank in the Galleria area. On her application form, Romar had stated that she had never been arrested. In fact, the background check revealed that she had three convictions for forgery, with her last sentence being two years in state jail. She was terminated by the bank in January 2008, the same day the background check results were received.

The following month, in February 2008, she deposited a forged check for $1,000 into her Texas State bank account and then withdrew the money at an ATM. As a result, she was sentenced to six months in jail in 2009.

Sentencing in the latest case is set for August 16. At that time, Romar faces up to 30 years in federal prison and a $250,000 maximum possible fine.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/local-woman-guilty-disaster-fraud

Two Houston men have been charged with trying to fraudulently sell 50 million masks for $317 million to a foreign government. Paschal Eleanya, 46 and Arael Doolittle, 55 are now in custody.

[UPDATE 02-16-22 Doolitte sent to prison for 54 months for the N95 mask scam (Australia was the foreign country) and 54 months for the oil and gas fraud. He pleaded guilty to the mask scam and was convicted in the Chevron fraud.]

Last month, in a separate case, Doolittle was charged with defrauding investors out of $1.2 million by pretending to have deals with Chevron.

Pascal Eleanya is a supply chain and operations executive who has worked for DuPont, Baker Hughes and Huntsman Corporation.

Both are charged for their role in a scheme to sell 50 million 3M model 1860 N95 respirator masks they did not actually possess to a foreign government. They negotiated a sales price of $317 million. This was five times the public list price that 3M had set.

Based on their representations, the foreign government allegedly wired the funds to complete the purchase. However, authorities disrupted the transaction before it could be completed.

If convicted, both Doolittle and Eleanya face up to five years in prison for conspiracy and up to 20 years in prison for each of the two counts of wire fraud. Each of these charges also carry a possible $250,000 maximum fine.

The Secret Service conducted the investigation.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/two-houston-men-charged-attempting-fraudulently-sell-50-million-masks

Six Houston-area men have been charged with fraudulently obtaining more than $16 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loans. A seventh individual from Illinois was also charged.

The indictment alleges that the defendants filed at least 80 fraudulent PPP applications, seeking nearly $30 million in PPP loan funds. Ultimately about $16 million was funded.

Amir Aqeel, 52 was the ringleader. He would create the loan applications for shelf or inactive companies, working with the other defendants who owned many of them. Other companies were owned by unnamed and not charged individuals.  For some of the loans, Aqeel would keep 33%, with the business owner getting the rest.

Unlike other PPP fraudsters, the defendants went further by writing purported paychecks to fake employees. Many of these were the defendants or their relatives. Aqeel’s 86-year-old mother (not charged) received checks from at least six different companies that received fraudulent PPP loans.

Over 1,100 fake paychecks, totaling over $3 million, were cashed at Almeda Discount Store in SE Houston, owned by one of the defendants.

With some of the proceeds, it is alleged that Aqeel bought a 2013 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder and a 6,000 sq ft, $1 million house in Champion Forest.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/seven-charged-connection-covid-relief-fraud-scheme-involving-more-80-fraudulent-loan

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has agreed to pay the federal government $15.3 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act in its administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP was known as the Food Stamp program until 2008.

Under SNAP, the US Department of Agriculture provides eligible low-income individuals and families with financial assistance to buy nutritious food. Although the federal government funds the benefits, it relies on the states to determine whether applicants are eligible and to administer the scheme.

Furthermore states are required to perform quality control to ensure that eligibility decisions are accurate. The federal government also pay performance bonuses to those states that report the lowest error rate and the most improved error rate. The state of Texas contracted with Julie Osnes Consulting LLC (based in South Dakota) to provide advice and recommendations designed to lower its quality control error rate. The federal government alleged that the recommendations injected bias into the quality control process, resulting in the state receiving performance bonuses in 2010, 2013 and 2014 for which it was not entitled.

This is the fourth state that the Federal government has settled with. All hired Osnes Consulting. The other states are Virginia ($7 million), Wisconsin ($7 million) and Alaska ($2.5 million). The government has also settled with Julie Osnes herself ($0.8 million).  The state of Mississippi is also under investigation.

Although the details concerning the Texas program have not been released, from reporting in other states, it is alleged that the consulting firm would pressure state employees to either reclassify errors as correct or omit them from the sample.  The states would select a quality control sample and the federal government would audit a subset of the state’s sample.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/texas-health-and-human-services-commission-agrees-pay-over-15-million-resolve-false-claims