ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Universal Concrete Products Corporation
(UCP) and its President and co-owner, Donald Faust, Jr., have agreed to pay $1
million to settle civil allegations that UCP falsified test records for
concrete panels for the extension of the Silver Line, also known as Phase II of
the Dulles Metrorail Project.
The allegations stem from UCP’s work as one of the
subcontractors supplying precast concrete to the Dulles Metrorail Project,
which is partially funded by loans from the U.S. Department of Transportation
and the Commonwealth of Virginia. The government’s amended consolidated civil
complaint in intervention alleges that from approximately October 2015 through
June 2016, then-UCP Quality Control Manager, Andrew Nolan, and UCP quality
control employees under his supervision, falsified test records to make it
appear as though air content for the concrete was within the required range of
air content. Nolan allegedly falsified test records knowing that the general
contractor for the Dulles Metrorail Project would reject the concrete had it
known that the concrete fell below the required air content for the project.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is overseeing Phase II of
the Dulles Metrorail Project and is addressing any remediation necessary as a
result of the alleged conduct separately from the resolution reached by the
government in this settlement.
The government’s civil lawsuit claims are based on a
whistleblower suit initially filed in 2016 by a former UCP quality control
employee. The suit was filed in the federal district court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act and
the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, which allow private persons to file
suit on behalf of the government. Under the statutes, the government has a
period of time to investigate the allegations and decide whether to intervene
in the action or to decline intervention and allow the whistleblower, also
called the relator, to go forward alone. The government intervened in the
relator’s suit in May 2018. The False Claims Act and Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers
Act also provides the whistleblower a share of the government’s recovery.
Related court documents and information from the civil
lawsuit is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:16-cv-316.
In August 2018, Nolan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit
wire fraud. Related court documents and information from the criminal action is
located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of
Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:18-cr-292.
The resolutions obtained in this matter were the result of a
coordinated effort between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District
of Virginia, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, the FBI, and the U.S.
Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General. The matter was
investigated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Roushdy, Special Assistant
U.S. Attorney Ronald Fiorillo, and Assistant Attorneys General Peter Broadbent
and Nancy Auth.
The civil claims settled by this agreement are allegations
only; there has been no determination of civil liability.
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