United States Joins Suit Against Navistar Defense LLC Alleging False Claims Under Marine Corps Contr

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/united-states-joins-suit-against-navistar-defense-llc-alleging-false-claims-under-marine

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Columbia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, December 4, 2019

United States Joins Suit Against Navistar Defense LLC Alleging False Claims Under Marine Corps Contract

WASHINGTON – The United States has intervened in a multimillion dollar whistleblower suit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against Navistar Defense, LLC. Navistar Defense manufactured large and armored vehicles for the United States military and is a subsidiary of Navistar International, LLC, headquartered in Melrose Park, Illinois. The suit alleges that Navistar Defense violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by submitting fraudulent invoices to support inflated prices for commercial parts on the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle.
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In 2007, the United States Marine Corps awarded Navistar Defense a contract to build several hundred MRAP vehicles to replace the Humvee, which proved to be vulnerable to roadside bombs. Navistar Defense ultimately provided nearly 4,000 MRAPs under the contract. In 2009, as the focus of the war effort transitioned from the paved roads and flat terrain of the Iraqi deserts to Afghanistan’s rocky terrain, the Marine Corps sought to upgrade its MRAP vehicles with a modified (?) Independent Suspension System (ISS). During the course of negotiations for the ISS, the Marine Corps asked Navistar Defense to provide evidence of prior commercial sales of the various parts that made up the ISS to ensure that the prices paid were fair and reasonable. The government alleges that Navistar Defense knowingly submitted forged documents of prior, comparable commercial sales to conceal the inflated prices it was charging the Marine Corps. In reality, those sales never occurred.
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