Two former employees of a private company that manages military family housing pleaded guilty to major fraud and conspiracy for lying to the Air Force about maintenance performed in on-base housing to receive $3.5 million in unearned financial incentives, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
Two plead guilty to fraud in Air Force housing contract, U.S. says
By M.B. Pell
Reuters
(Reuters) - Two former employees of Balfour Beatty Communities, one of the U.S. military’s largest private landlords, have pleaded guilty to fraud for helping the company secure millions in bonuses while covering up poor housing conditions at several Air Force bases, the Department of Justice announced.
Two years ago Reuters reports described how Balfour Beatty employees falsified maintenance documents at Air Force bases to help the company qualify for incentive fee payments, citing five former employees who said they falsified records, company emails and internal Air Force communications. Service members and their families were left exposed to asbestos, vermin, mold and raw sewage.
A group of military members and their families sued private landlords at three U.S. military bases in Texas federal court Tuesday, accusing the companies of acting like slumlords while receiving taxpayer revenue and providing housing plagued by rat and insect infestations, leaking sewage, mold, asbestos contamination and other problems.