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G4S PLC

Gordon v. ArmorGroup North America

Date: 09/09/2009 (Date of Complaint)

Misconduct Type: Government Contract Fraud

Enforcement Agency: Multiple Agencies

Contracting Party: State Dept.

Court Type: Civil

Amount: $7,500,000

Disposition: Settlement

Synopsis: James Gordon, former director of operations at ArmorGroup North America (AGNA) (owned by Wackenhut Services, Inc.), filed a False Claims Act whistleblower retaliation lawsuit alleging that AGNA fired him for exposing deficiencies and illegalities relating to AGNA’s contracts with the U.S. State Department to provide security at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan and at the U.S. Naval base in Bahrain. In July 2011, AGNA and its affiliates paid $7.5 million to resolve the lawsuit. The settlement resolved claims that in 2007 and 2008, AGNA guards violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) by visiting brothels in Kabul, and that AGNA’s management knew about the guards’ activities. The settlement also resolved allegations that AGNA misrepresented the prior work experience of 38 third country national guards it had hired to guard the Embassy, and that AGNA failed to comply with certain Foreign Ownership, Control and Influence mitigation requirements on the embassy contract, and on a separate contract to provide guard services at the Naval base in Bahrain. See related G4S PLC instance, “Sauer et al. v. ArmorGroup North America.”