TesTech, Inc., CESO Testing Technology, Inc., CESO International, LLC, and CESO, Inc. have agreed to pay $2,883,947 to resolve allegations that they falsely claimed disadvantaged business status on a number of federally-funded transportation projects.
The Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program encourages the use of woman- and minority-owned businesses on federally-funded transportation projects. Contractors on such projects must make good-faith attempts to meet DBE participation goals as a condition of federal funding.
In this case, the United States alleged that the defendants falsely claimed DBE status for TesTech, Inc., which was in fact owned and controlled by the CESO defendants.
As part of the settlement, the whistleblower who filed this False Claims Act lawsuit will receive $562,370 of the settlement amount.
For more information on this case, click here: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/June/13-civ-650.html