Holding Government Contractors Accountable For Fraud

When contractors work with the state or federal government, they must be honest about the services they provide and ensure that they meet the minimum standards of eligibility to receive government work. When these things do not happen but the contractors bill for their services and receive government compensation, they may be committing fraud. When this occurs, it falls on individuals with knowledge of the fraud — often called whistleblowers — to report the misconduct and prevent those who perpetrate the fraud from profiting from their improper conduct.

Trial attorney John Klassen has spent 20 years serving clients in Minneapolis and throughout Minnesota, including those who wish to report government contractor fraud and other fraudulent activity. He founded our firm — John A. Klassen, PA — in 1996 so that he could offer the personal service, custom-tailored advice and trusted litigation counsel that they need in whistleblower cases (also known as qui tam claims). The numerous favorable results we have obtained and our unyielding loyalty to our clients has led to much recognition within the legal industry, such as John’s inclusion in Minnesota Super Lawyers every year since 2003.

Examples Of Government Contractor Fraud

There are many different types of fraud and dishonest conduct that can lead to whistleblower claims. Some common examples include:

• Falsifying work: If an outside company handles debt collection for an agency of the United States, but the company falsifies reports about the amount or type of work that it did so that it receives a higher percentage of compensation based on the claims they handled, it defrauds the government and this can lead to a whistleblower claim.
• Failure to meet eligibility criteria: Construction companies are often required to meet certain requirements, such as minority ownership standards, in order to be eligible to work on state and federal projects. If they assert they meet these requirements but in reality they do not, then any requests for compensation from the government are considered false claims since the companies have violated the terms of their contract.

Case Result: John served as co-lead counsel in a claim against a federal contractor who was accused of overbilling the United States for its work, of billing for work that was never actually done and of terminating our client after the client opposed the fraudulent practices of the employer. We recovered $250,000 for our client and the defendant agreed to repay the United States $600,000 for the alleged fraudulent overbilling.

Report Government Contractor Fraud | Contact Our Firm

Call 612-217-4988 or complete our online contact form to find out how you can report fraudulent activities. We will provide you a straightforward assessment of all the options available to you and help you understand how our experience and history of success in these matters can benefit you.