CHG, Parent to Pay $18.5M for Time Card Fraud, Guilty Whistleblower Gets Nothing

Colorado-based CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CHG) and its parent company CH2M Hill Companies Ltd. (CH2M Hill) admitted to criminal conduct when CHG engaged in years of widespread time card fraud  on the U.S. Department of Energy. Between 1999 and 2008, CH2M Hill had a federal contract to manage and clean 177 large underground storage tanks containing mixed radioactive and hazardous waste at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Nuclear Site in southeastern Washington. The Hanford Site was used for the production of nuclear weapons during World War II and the Cold War. CHG hourly employees involved in the cleanup routinely overstated the number of hours they worked,  and CHG management not only condoned the practice---submitting inflated claims to the Department of Energy that included the fraudulently claimed hours--but certain supervisors engaged in patterns designed to avoid the detection of the routine time card fraud by law enforcement and internal auditors.  So far, eight individuals have pleaded guilty to the fraud scheme and conspiracy.

CH2M Hill will pay $16.5 million to resolve its civil liability under the False Claims Act, refund an additional $1.95 million in wrongfully obtained profits, dedicate $500,000 to increasing accountability at the Hanford site, and pay for independent monitoring.  The allegations were originally brought under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act by Carl Schroeder, a former employee of CH2M Hill, and one of those to plead guilty to the scheme.  Under the False Claims Act, private citizens can sue on behalf of the United States and share in the recovery.   The act, however, bars whistleblowers from recovering if they were convicted based on their role in the scheme.  Thus, Schroeder will not receive any share of the recovery.

The Chanler Group, in association with the Hirst Law Group, represents whistleblowers who take action under the False Claims Act to report fraud committed against the federal and state governments.  We have years of experience representing whistleblower clients who expose every kind of fraud against the government, including health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud.  Read more about our expertise in False Claims Act cases and how you can take action.