Between the Lines: Blackwater Whistleblowers' List of Particulars

2 years ago

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Woman Up Editor

In more bad news for the security company Xe Services, LLC, (formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide), the U.S. Justice department declined to join a lawsuit filed by two former employees, under the False Claims Act, accusing the private guard company of cheating the taxpayers. The FCA permits citizens to sue on behalf of the government and be rewarded by a percentage of recovered damages should the case prevail.

You would think that having the government refuse to join a lawsuit against you would be good news for a federal contractor. But, in this case the "no thanks" from the Justice Department's civil division opened up the beleaguered private police force to more scrutiny by unsealing the December 2008 complaint filed in federal court.

A copy of the 11-page document is below. Appended are an eight-page affidavit from Brad Davis, a former Marine who was twice deployed to Iraq by Blackwater, and a 12-page statement from his wife, Melan Davis, whose work for Blackwater included "record-keeping and billing responsibilities." The couple brought the lawsuit.

The security company has had numerous bad bounces since agents contracted by the State Department to protect embassy personnel in Iraq were involved in a 2007 shooting during a midday traffic jam in Baghdad's crowded Nisour Square. Seventeen civilian Iraqis died in the incident. A federal judge recently dismissed manslaughter charges against five Blackwater security contractors involved in the firefight, citing mistakes by federal prosecutors, but the government is appealing the decision.

In the meantime, the company has been booted out of Iraq by the government there and consequently lost its lucrative security contract at the American compound.

In the false claims case, the allegations by the Davises against their former employer range from tax fraud ("Blackwater transferred funds offshore to Greystone, and then reflected those funds as payment for management fees ... to send its profits offshore beyond the reach of the United States Internal Revenue Service"), to billing the government for prostitution ("services provided to Blackwater employees by a Phillipino [sic] female. Blackwater placed the name of this Phillipino prostitute on the payroll rosters, which were submitted to the as part of the Cost Reimbursable expense reports.")

According to the complaint, Blackwater also defrauded the U.S. government by submitting false claims in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for "spa trips, gym membership, and extensive quantities of alcoholic beverages," and, in order to collect tuition for training them, "deployed unqualified persons to Iraq known to engage in unjustified and unnecessary force." In retaliation for Mrs. Davis' attempt to blow the whistle, the complaint alleges, she was fired by the company, "while she was out on leave battling cancer."

Filed Under: Investigations, PD Investigations

Tagged: blackwater

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