US government sues security firm for fraud

The U.S. government joined a suit against a security firm involved in issuing security clearances to unqualified personalities.

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United States Investigations Services LLC (USIS) is the largest provider of background investigations to the federal government. Its security solutions are implemented for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Defense (DOD), Office of the Personnel Management (OPM), and the intelligence community. The private firm was created as part of a process to reduce the size of the civil service.

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According to the complaint, the company did not go through its mandate of quality background investigations thus, violating the Federal False Claims Act. It was found that USIS issued a fraudulent clearance for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. Snowden’s case is not part of the complaint, though, and is only one of among 665,000 known cases. Despite the alleged security lapses, USIS still sought payment for all of its supposed services. Its contract with the OPM in 2012 was for $253 million.

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Blake Percival, the whistle-blower and a former USIS employee, bared that the company “dumped” and “flushed” cases starting 2008. This practice was perceived to boost revenues for the company and meet its committed volume. USIS has cornered two-thirds of the volume allotted for contractors and more than one-half of background investigations performed by the OPM.

Evan Granowitz is an experienced litigator based in Los Angeles, Calif. Go to this Facebook page for more updates in the legal arena.