February 02, 2007
The PBSJ Corporation, a Florida design and engineering firm, has paid more that $6.4 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act.
The settlement arose from an embezzlement scheme perpetrated by PBSJ’s former Chief Financial Officer and two other employees. The scheme involved shifting funds and fabricating entries in the company’s books and records to cover up the fraud, and resulted in PBSJ’s audited overhead rates being overstated. More than a dozen federal agencies were affected by the fraud, including the Departments of the Army, Transportation, Interior and Homeland Security.
The U.S. Dept. of Justice issued a press release on January 24, 2007.