February 11, 2010 2 Ex-Workers Accuse Blackwater Security Company of Defrauding the U.S. for Years By MARK MAZZETTI WASHINGTON â Two former employees of Blackwater Worldwide have accused the private security company of defrauding the government for years by filing bogus receipts, double billing for the same services and charging government agencies for strippers and prostitutes, according to court documents unsealed this week. In a December 2008 lawsuit, the former employees said top Blackwater officials had engaged in a pattern of deception as they carried out government contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The lawsuit, filed under the False Claims Act, also asserts that Blackwater officials turned a blind eye to âexcessive and unjustifiedâ force against Iraqi civilians by several Blackwater guards. Blackwater has earned billions of dollars from government agencies in the years since the Sept. 11 attacks, when the company won contracts to protect American diplomats in Iraq and Afghanistan. The former employees who filed the lawsuit, a married couple named Brad and Melan Davis, said there was little financial oversight of the money. Last year, an audit by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction and the State Departmentâs inspector general found that the State Department had overpaid Blackwater $55 million because the company had failed to adequately staff its teams assigned to protect American diplomats in Iraq. The documents detailing the Davisesâ accusations were unsealed after the Justice Department declined to join in the case against Blackwater, which last year changed its name to Xe Services. A Xe spokeswoman did not return a message seeking comment about the case. In an interview on Wednesday, Ms. Davis said that she and her husband had decided to proceed with the case because âitâs the right thing to do,â and that it was time for âthe truth from inside the companyâ to be made public. If the government is able to recover money from Blackwater as a result of the lawsuit, the Davises could claim a percentage as whistleblowers. Mr. Davis, a former Marine, performed a number of jobs for the company, including working as a private security guard in Iraq. Ms. Davis was fired from the company, and she is challenging the legality of her dismissal. Mr. Davis voluntarily resigned from the company. According to the lawsuit, Ms. Davis raised concerns about the companyâs bookkeeping with her bosses in March 2006, when she was handling accounts for the companyâs contracts with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. The lawsuit claims she was told to âback off,â and that she âwould never win a medal for saving the government money.â Ms. Davis also asserts that a Filipino prostitute in Afghanistan was put on the Blackwater payroll under the âMorale Welfare Recreationâ category, and that the company had billed the prostituteâs plane tickets and monthly salary to the government. She also said Blackwater management used a subsidiary company, Greystone Ltd., to double bill the government for plane tickets between the United States and Amman, Jordan, which served as a transit point for the companyâs employees in Iraq.
Just think, if Enron had changed their name to Xe Services they would never have been caught either...
Somehow I don't think the State Department officials whom they protected are complaining. They never lost a single person under their protection, although several of their own people were killed, most notably the four guys who were mutilated and hung from a bridge by the Iraqis you bleeding hearts are so concerned about. If you were a government official sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, which would you pick to protect you, Blackwater or the Army? Anyone who says the Army is either a liar or so clueless they should be in the obama administration.
They did the job they were paid to do. Not saying it's right or wrong, but most people have this mental block about the proper rules of a war. America's military at least in the public's eye, is required to never hit below the belt and always in retaliation , never preemptive. That BS usually gets you killed. Not talking about some school ground kid fight, when you are in the real life and death shit, you hit your enemy so hard they have neither the means or desire to continue. It's a tragedy anytime civilians are involved, but when the fight is brought to you in their midst, sometimes it's unavoidable.
Answer the question, moron. Who would you want protecting you, Blackwater, US Army or Iraqi security? Don't bother to respond. Iknow you can' deal with the real world.