Sunday, September 06, 2020

FMC Corporation's $80 million False Claims Act settlement re: Bradley Fighting Vehicle

FMC Corporation employs as a malathion marketer controversial Florida Mosquito Control Association, Inc. President DONNIE POWERS, whose dual roles I have reported to the FTC, Justice Department and will report to SEC, 

Check out the 1998 HBO movie, The Pentagon Wars, starring Olympic Dukakis, Charles Nelson Riley, and played for comedy, satirizing the government contract fraud by FMC.

FMC and Pentagon generals risked American lives through bad design.

FMC Corporation later sold its defense contracting to Carlyle Group.  There were several False Claims Act cases settled.  In one, there was a $315,000,000 jury verdict, settled on appeal for $80 million.   

From Chicago Tribune:



FMC TO PAY $80 MILLION IN BRADLEY WHISTLE-BLOWER CASE

James P. Miller, Tribune Staff WriterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

FMC Corp. agreed to pay $80 million to settle allegations that it defrauded the U.S. Army about the safety of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, ending a 14-year legal fight with a former employee who blew the whistle on the company.

The Chicago-based maker of chemicals and machinery lost in federal court when the long-running case went to trial in 1998. The company appealed the judge's ruling, which obliges FMC to pay about $110 million in damages, interest and legal fees.

Late Friday, however, FMC said it has dropped its appeal and has agreed to a mediated out-of-court settlement--without admitting any wrongdoing--rather than face "continuing uncertainty about the litigation and the vagaries of the appeals process."

The seesaw suit over the Bradley began in 1986, when Henry Boisvert, who was working as an FMC testing supervisor, raised questions about whether the armored personnel carrier could perform as well as FMC claimed.

Boisvert filed suit under federal "whistle-blower" regulations. FMC, he alleged, had defrauded the government by squelching a report Boisvert had written questioning the Bradley's safety in water because it had flunked tests of its ability to cross streams.

The Army didn't join in Boisvert's civil lawsuit, which drew enormous national attention as it moved through the legal system. In 1998, a federal jury in San Jose, Calif., found against FMC and awarded Boisvert $125 million in damages. Because damages can be trebled in such cases, FMC initially faced more than $375 million in potential legal penalties.

But the judge in the case reduced the jury's award significantly, so FMC's obligations wouldn't exceed $87 million (not including legal fees and the interest that was building while FMC fought the case).

Boisvert filed his suit under the False Claims Act, which allows citizens to go after federal contractors on behalf of the government. Under that law, 70 percent of a verdict or settlement goes to the government, and the whistle-blowing citizen-plaintiff receives the remaining 30 percent.

FMC, which hadn't taken any reserves to cover its financial exposure in the Bradley case, said its third-quarter results would include a charge to cover the $80 million settlement.

In 1996, the company paid $13 million to settle, without conceding it had done anything wrong, a separate Bradley lawsuit filed by a different FMC whistle-blower. That suit alleged that the company had defrauded the government by jacking up the costs of producing the vehicle.

FMC sold its defense interests in 1997. The Bradley, which saw extensive use in the Gulf war, now is manufactured by closely held defense contractor Carlyle Group.

An attorney representing Boisvert declined to comment. The settlement remains subject to approval by the Justice Department, as well as the court where the 1998 trial was heard.

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