Whistleblowers' 2013 suit 
ground Grand Junction airport to halt

The ill-fated federal investigation that sent Grand Junction Regional Airport into a two-year tailspin was launched by a secret lawsuit that two airport critics say should result in payments of as much as $5 million to them as whistleblowers.

The lawsuit — filed under seal March 20, 2013, by David Shepard and Bill Marvel, who claim whistleblower status despite having never worked inside the airport — shines new light on the beginning of a series of events that became public with an FBI raid. Fallout from the raid included halted construction midway on a $6.2 million building, cost the airport chief his job, derailed a new terminal project, roiled the airport’s relationship with the building contractor, and fouled the airport’s reputation nationally. The FBI concluded its investigation having found no wrongdoing at the airport.

A federal judge has set a Feb. 2 hearing in Denver on the fairness of a settlement of the suit backed by the airport and U.S. government. The government, which stepped into the shoes of Shepard and Marvel to prosecute the case, determined that there was no fraud as alleged by Shepard and Marvel and that the airport should be liable for just $16,500 in penalties. The airport agreed to pay that amount in settlement.

Shepard and Marvel contend in court papers recently unsealed that the government determination of no fraud is incorrect and its penalty number is too low. Rather, they say, the airport and a contractor should be on the hook for a $5 million fraud in the construction of the airport perimeter fence, which, with costs and interest, should be tripled, to about $16.5 million.

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