Whistleblower to pocket nearly $11 million for exposing alleged nationwide scam

Written By David Allison

A whistleblower will pocket nearly $11 million for exposing an alleged nationwide fraud, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The huge award is just compensation for a whistleblower who revealed what the Justice Department called “the largest-ever False Claims Act recovery based on allegations of small business contracting fraud,” said Scott Williams, CEO of Ethic Alliance.

“The False Claims Act covers a wide variety of fraud, abuse and corruption cases ranging from healthcare to government contracting to bid rigging to small business contracting.  More and more people are showing the courage to come forward, and get rewarded for their service to their communities and country,” said Williams.

Ethic Alliance is a for-profit corporation and law firm whose purpose is to empower, educate and protect whistleblowers, ensuring they receive the protection they need and the rewards they are entitled to under US law (the US government will typically reward whistleblowers 10%-30% of the amount recovered or sanctioned under various whistleblower laws).  Ethic Alliance protects whistleblowers through a secure, encrypted reporting and messaging platform, attaching the strong legal protection of attorney-client privilege from the moment a report is filed with us, and access to a network of specialty attorneys that have made careers protecting and supporting whistleblowers, and working with the US government to win whistleblower lawsuits.

According to the feds, TriMark USA, LLC of Mansfield, Mass., agreed in February 2022 to pay $48.5 million to resolve allegations that its subsidiaries, TriMark Gill Marketing and TriMark Gill Group, Inc. improperly manipulated federal small business set-aside contracts around the country.

The contracts had been reserved for small businesses owned, controlled, and operated by veterans of the U.S. military who incurred a disability in the course of their military service.

However, the feds say, TriMark admitted that when set-aside contracts were awarded by federal agencies to small businesses, it was typically TriMark Gill Marketing, rather than the small business, that performed substantially all the work, while the small business merely served as the face of the contract, billing the government for the work, and using its small business status to obtain the set-aside contracts. 

TriMark provides kitchen and food service equipment to government customers around the world.

According to court documents, the case began in May 2019, when a whistleblower, a company known as Fox Unlimited Enterprises LLP, filed a qui tam complaint.

When a whistleblower, or “relator,” files a qui tam complaint, the False Claims Act requires the United States to investigate the allegations and elect whether to intervene and take over the action or to decline to intervene and allow the relator to go forward with the litigation on behalf of the United States.  The relator is generally able to then share in any recovery. 

In this case, according to court documents, the United States intervened in the action in December 2021, and following the United States’ intervention, TriMark has agreed to pay $48.5 million to resolve allegations. 

Pursuant to the settlement agreement, the whistleblower will receive $10,912,500 of the settlement amount paid by TriMark. 

“This case demonstrates a shocking disregard for fair competition, small business rules, and integrity in government contracting,” said Vanessa R. Waldref, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, in a statement.

Photo by israel palacio on Unsplash

David Allison
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