Procurement and Government Contract Fraud

Representative Experience

The lawyer for a criminal defendant, who was charged with fraud and misrepresentations to government investigators in the pursuit of a number of government contracts in New York City, hired Jeff Belkin as a testifying expert on government contract issues. Mr. Belkin testified at the criminal trial and was qualified by the US District Judge as an expert in the field of government contracts, without objection by the prosecution, particularly on the areas of qualifications for Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) and Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) status. While the defendant was convicted of all counts, both the prosecution and the defense quoted Mr. Belkin’s expert testimony to make their closing statements.

Recently, we worked with our white collar and immigration experts in responding to the visit by ICE inspectors to our client’s construction project, and addressed the E-Verify compliance issues arising from that inspection both with ICE and with the government customer agency.
We currently represent four defendants in a qui tam False Claims Act lawsuit against, alleging sales of products to the federal government that are claimed not to be compliant with the Trade Agreements Act. Our expertise in domestic source requirements in government procurement is unmatched. Just in this area, we have authored widely-circulated articles, conducted internal investigations of manufacturing clients’ supply chain to address Buy American Act and Trade Agreements Act compliance issues, conducted seminars and trainings of sales staff and senior executives, traveled with clients on customer sales visits where ARRA and Buy American restrictions were a key issue, and defended False Claims Act investigations and lawsuits alleging non-compliance.
Represented a client in a DOJ and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) inspector general investigation into fraud in the E-Rate program.
We served as counsel to a NASDAQ company in the first reported investigation by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), General Services Administration (GSA), and Department of Justice (DOJ) into a contractor’s alleged violation of the False Claims Act based upon a purported false certification of business size.
We successfully resolved a highly-publicized defective pricing investigation by GSA and DOJ into our manufacturing client’s compliance with pricing obligations arising under the GSA Schedule.
We counseled a publicly-traded company in a federal investigation of alleged fraudulent billings in connection with federal highway projects.
We handled investigations by the SBA Inspector General into the accuracy of small business size representations.
We have handled and assisted in investigations by grand juries into alleged over-billing, bribery and contract fraud.
We defended a major agribusiness in a federal grand jury investigation of alleged antitrust violations in the sale of agricultural products through a federally-administered international aid program.
We are defending a manufacturer in a federal grand jury investigation of a sale of allegedly defective products to Department of Defense.
We defended a Chicago-based parts remanufacturer in a federal grand jury investigation of alleged overbilling for reconditioning of parts for U.S. Navy ships and in related debarment proceedings.
We are defending a NYSE company in a state criminal investigation of an alleged procurement fraud involving a California port authority.
We defended a mortgage subsidiary of a major national life insurance company in connection with a federal grand jury investigation of a mortgage loan fraud related to a federally guaranteed mortgage loan program.
We represented a major wireless service provider in connection with the FCC’s auction of a spectrum and follow-on Antitrust Division investigation of alleged bid rigging in connection with the auction.
We represent a major information technology company in an investigation of fraud against the client by a former employee related to the performance of government contracts.
We recently advised a client on possible mandatory or voluntary disclosure issues arising out of allegations of kickbacks and improper payments by subcontractors.

Contacts

Jeffrey A. Belkin

Partner

Atlanta, Washington, D.C.

Phone: +1 404 881 7388

Other Phone: +1 202 756 3065

Email: jeff.belkin@alston.com