SBIR Grant Fraud - Examples of Qui Tam Cases
SBIR Grant Fraud – Examples of Qui Tam Cases
Eight-Year Scheme of Duplicated Research, False Billing and False Statements Involving Air Force, Navy, EPA and National Science Foundation “SBIR” Contracts Alleged in Whistleblower Complaint Unsealed Today; Research/ Consulting Lab, Owner Will Repay Approximately $1.1 Million To Settle Allegations; Moshe Lavid, Ph.d., President of M.L. Energia, Inc., Pleaded Guilty To Criminal Charges In 2004.
NEWARK, NJ — The owner of a Plainsboro-based research and consulting firm today settled whistleblower allegations brought under the Qui Tam provisions of the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”), agreeing to pay more than $1.1 million to the Government for his alleged role in an eight-year scheme to defraud several federal agencies under Small Business Innovation Research Program (“SBIR”) grants, Manhattan-based attorney Timothy J. McInnis announced today.
Moshe Lavid, Ph.d., president of M.L. Energia, Inc. (“Energia”), of Plainsboro, obtained “funding from different federal agencies for the same research,” according to the Complaint, in one case doing, “…little more than ‘recycling’ of the same research, data and technology.”
“This is the case of a research scientist who turned into a cut-and-paste bandit,” said McInnis who represents whistleblower, Moisey Teytelboym, Ph.d., a chemist who had been employed by Energia during the time covered by the Complaint.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, under the direction of U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie, is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart A. Minkowitz, of the office’s Civil Division.