US sues legal contractor for alleged excessive billing on MOX fuel facility, which has now disappeared

Last week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against a company called CB & I Areva MOX Services and its subcontractor, Wise Services, for allegedly charging the US government for supplies that would Had never been delivered. According to the complaint, a Wise official offered bribes, including football tickets, firearms, a YETI cooler and a television, in order to receive preferential treatment for a government project. US to build a nuclear fuel reforming facility.

The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has contracted MOX Services to build the mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility (MFFF), which would have converted military grade plutonium back into fuel. for nuclear reactors in the United States.

After wasting more than $ 7.6 billion on the MFFF, the US Department of Energy (DOE) canceled the South Carolina facility. The department has quietly moved the plutonium out of the area since then.

In the complaint filed by the Department of Justice in February (PDF), the federal government accuses Wise and MOX Services of submitting invoices containing nearly $ 6.3 million in fraudulent offenses. Wise then made gifts to MOX Services employees to encourage them to turn a blind eye to bad bills. Although $ 6.3 million is only a small amount compared to the $ 7.6 billion that the US government eventually lost with the project, NNSA hopes to recover the lost funds from both contractors through the project. through a jury trial.

The bribes

Phillip Thompson, Wise's senior representative for the project, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit the theft of public funds in 2017. Between 2008 and 2016, Thompson (acting on behalf of Wise) allegedly filed 484 MOX claims. Services "knowingly false and fraudulent, because the claims included costs for non-existing equipment," says the complaint.

MOX Services, in turn, reportedly reversed the process and submitted more than 200 receipts to the NNSA for refund, knowing that Wise had falsified its deliveries. In addition, "Wise has added a 3% fee to costs for non-existing materials," according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, Wise provided invoices from six suppliers, but these invoices included non-existent equipment. In the case of two companies, the invoices "were handwritten", "did not include shipping charges" and "were within 50 miles of Wise's main office in Dayton, Ohio." , rather than in South Carolina, where the establishment was located. in construction. One of the vendors had an address at the top of the bill that goes back to a residential address in Ohio, according to the complaint.

In addition, the federal government claimed that Thompson claimed to purchase millions of dollars of equipment for the MFFF, then "reimburse" from the Wise petty cash account and send an invoice to MOX Services. MOX, in turn, asked for the federal government's refund.

Meanwhile, MOX Services employees were aware of Thompson's apparent agitation and turned a blind eye because of the $ 52,000 gifts that Thompson and Wise had purchased, according to the complaint. "These bribes included valuables such as cash, gift cards, YETI coolers, sunglbades, cell phones, NASCAR tickets, Masters Golf Tournament tickets, University football tickets, firearms and hunting supplies, "says the complaint.

Go crimson tide

The Department of Justice says that a technical representative of MOX outsourcing services has received a barbecue, car tires, gift cards and a shotgun. In another case, an electricity superintendent and a construction manager for the MOX service sector "explained in detail the commission he expected from Wise", which was, in the present case, in tickets for football matches of the University of Alabama and nights spent at a nearby hotel,. Thompson also reportedly hired the son of a MOX outsourcing administrator "to obtain favorable treatment" from the company.

Things seem to have become more tenuous for Wise when, in January 2015, one of the employees of MOX Services who was receiving bribes took several days off for the Christmas holidays and apparently would have returned to find his falsified signature on invoices indicating his repayment agreement by the NNSA. When the employee took the affair with his superiors, "Mr. Thompson admitted to falsifying and photocopying" his signature, according to the complaint.

After several meetings with the superiors, "MOX ordered that all future material purchases for Wise outsourcing contracts go through MOX's purchasing department, and Wise was no longer allowed to purchase and bill materials from title of Wise subcontracts ".

Last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission terminated the authorization to build MOX Services at the South Carolina site, at the request of the contractor.