Burlington Construction Co. Settles Federal False Claims Case

A Burlington-based construction company, falsely claiming to be owned by a service disabled veteran to obtain government contracts, agrees to pay Uncle Sam $1.3 million dollars. New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said as part of a Civil Settlement, the operators of Veteran Construction Associates LLC admitted that it wasn't owned by a veteran under the False Claims Act.

According to the Fishman's press release, Veteran Construction listed that a service-disabled vet owned 51 percent of the company when it was formed in 2006. Then from 2008 through 2011 bid on and received government construction contracts that were reserved for companies that were certified as owned and operated by service disabled veterans. In fact, they successfully completed and billed the U.S. Government 68 times on contracts totaling $6.5 million.

Veteran Construction also agreed that it shall never seek to obtain any government contracts set aside for veterans of the U.S. military and will not seek any government contracts at all for three years from the settlement. In addition, the company also agreed that none of its current or former members will maintain more than a 10 percent ownership interest in any company seeking to obtain government contracts set aside for veterans of the U.S. military for three years.