WP: Verdict Against Iraq Contractor Overturned (Custer Battles)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081801171.html

A federal judge threw out a $10 million jury verdict against an American company accused of overcharging on an Iraq reconstruction contract after concluding that the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority was not a U.S. government entity.

The civil fraud suit against Custer Battles LLC, which has offices in Northern Virginia, arose out of the chaotic 14-month period during which the authority governed Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Using federal whistle-blower laws, a former employee and a subcontractor claimed Custer Battles created phony Cayman Islands companies to overcharge the authority on a contract to furnish Iraq with a new currency. The firm denied the claim.

Although a jury found the company guilty, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled on review that the firm could not be sued under the federal False Claims Act because of the ambiguous structure of the authority, which issued the contract. The judge also concluded that the way in which the company had been paid distanced it from the U.S. government.

[saigon68]

1. Yes, It is the Rule of Thugs

If you have connections you can get away with anything

[wellst0nev0ter]

2. Jesus Fucking Christ

He said there was ample evidence that the company had submitted "false and fraudulently inflated invoices" but found that the nature of the Coalition Provisional Authority precluded a fraud claim. Ellis signed his ruling Wednesday; it was made public yesterday.

So because the CPA is a corporation instead of a government agency, this crooked company, and every crooked company afterwards, gets to skate???

As Stephen Colbert said when Haliburton was awarded its first Eye-Rack contract, no word exists to express my outrage.

[izzie]

3. All one needs is a corp. in the Cayman Island I guess

What our govt. has done with its business in Iraq is really unclear but looks like it will let you off as dealing with the USA. We seem to have the same trouble with dealing with any of these men in other private armies and if they were in on the 'stuff' done to people in prisons but the poor Pvt. in US army can go to court. If I recall there was a lot of stuff like this in the North/arms deal thing and that ex-army men were the dealers there also. If I recall one ex General was after the govt. for money in supplying those arms. 'Secord' or some such name. Seems all those men in office are right back in office.

[sandnsea]

4. Privatization = no right to redress

Besides the incompetence, costs and obscene profits - the biggest threat of privatization has always been our inability to hold them accountable in accord with our own Bill of Rights. And that looks to be exactly what has happened here.

[NYC]

17. That's no accident.

[sandnsea]

22. I didn't say it was an accident n/t

[NYC]

23. I realize that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Bush regime creates lawless zones all over the world

It's a pattern. In Guantanamo, they claim that US law doesn't apply, but neither does Cuban law, so they say they can imprison people forever without trial. In Europe, they kidnap people, and move them around the world so that the Red Cross doesn't know where they are, and there's no-one to see what is done to their victims. In Iraq, they bomb, allow looting, and then set up a structure which gives immunity from prosecution to US military and and US mercenaries, for violent crimes; and now it's claimed they have immunity for financial crimes too, so US taxpayers' money can be stolen at will. A recent report said 90% of US aid to Iraq was lost in fraud and theft. And the profits from Iraqi oil went into the same black hole of corruption - money goes in, but nothing good ever comes out of it.

Bush is spreading lawlessness around the world, not democracy.

[acmejack]

6. Judge Ellis has done a lot of fine work for the American People

NOT He needs to go.

National security trumps First Amendment in espionage case

Threw out the case of a German citizen who says he was wrongfully imprisoned by the CIA, ruling that Khaled al-Masri's lawsuit poses a "grave risk" of damage to national security by exposing government secrets.

The judge also turned down Lindh's argument that he could not get a fair trial anywhere in the United States, especially in a northern Virginia courthouse located just nine miles from the scene of the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon.

Judge: OK for Bush to Torture, Abuse People

[magellan]

7. The CPA was not a U.S. government entity?

:wtf: What was the CPA an entity OF, then?

Judge Ellis should be made to stand in the middle of Baghdad (outside the Green Zone) and try explaining it to the Iraqis.

[mom cat]

8. Another reason we need to win in NOV: to get out the crooked judges!

K&R

[babylonsister]

9. A * stooge?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.S._Ellis,_III

From Wikipedia:

On Thursday, May 18, 2006 Ellis dismissed a lawsuit filed by Khalid El-Masri, a German citizen, against the CIA and three private companies allegedly involved with his kidnapping, transport, and torture in Kabul. Ellis explained his belief that a public trial would "present a grave risk of injury to national security"<2>, though acknowledging that "if El-Masri's allegations are true or essentially true, then all fair-minded people, including those who believe that state secrets must be protected, that this lawsuit cannot proceed, and that renditions are a necessary step to take in this war, must also agree that El-Masri has suffered injuries as a result of our country's mistake and deserves a remedy."<3>

[Tellurian]

13. No doubt about it. Part of the Federalist conspiracy

for self enrichment at the expense of dead civilians and American lives.

This Judge has to belong to the Federalist school of thought as championed by Scalia. Guaranteed he didn't write the conclusions himself. The outcome of this trial was a forgone conclusion long before the trial began, in fact, before the contractors ever began their foray into uncharted waters.

This was about the extent of the Bush strategy of going to war in Iraq in the first place..

Steal with both hands until someone blows the whistle or until someting goes wrong, forcing us out. At least we won't leave empty handed and have made it a profitable day.

[OregonBlue]

10. Sounds like this guy sides with the administration a lot. Are these

cases randomly assigned or do they choose where they will file knowing which judge they will get?

[elehhhhna]

11. I CALL BULLSHIT. They have laundered funds and STOLEN them

from Iraqi's & the US.

Cannot believe there's no way to legally recover that money.

[BluePatriot]

12. As an ex-billing clerk for an Iraq project

...that is the dumbest interpretation contrary to the spirit of the law that I have ever heard. Absolutely criminal. They should boot this guy's ass out of court.

/made sure no one got paid for funny stuff
//lots of billing stories
///caught and delayed loads of suspicious paperwork of own free will

[Tellurian]

14. I'm thinking there may be something in this ruling good for NOLA

The WP article is a little incomplete.. omitting the "whys" to the conclusions set forth by the Judge, sort of stymies further thinking of their thought process.

I'm sure the omission of that critical information by the Post was intentional.

Thats what they get paid to do!

[alfredo]

15. Even if they were found guilty and the verdict stuck, they

could have been pardoned by bush. Didn't bush sign an executive order granting immunity to corporations doing business in Iraq? I seem to have read here at DU that bush delegated to some crook like Poindexter the power to grant immunity to anyone doing work connected to the "war on terror."

[glitch]

16. Ellis huh, any relation to the BUSH family?

You know, John Ellis Bush (aka Jeb), and that cousin John Ellis who worked for Fox and called the 2000 election for W?

[NYC]

18. Interesting question.

We should check.

[cyberpj]

19. "the ambiguous structure of the authority, which issued the contract"

the ambiguous structure of the authority.......which was on purpose for just this reason!

[cyberpj]

20. CPA site - capture it now - it may be gone soon:

Sorry, but I don't know how...

http://www.cpa-iraq.org/

[annabanana]

21. That is just insane..

Put this crap on the lo-o-o-o-ong list of "things to fix" when we get a little leverage again.

[Blue_Tires]

24. i guess i'm a realist

i NEVER thought there would be any REAL punishment for Custer Battles or their ilk...just like Blackwater, Enron, etc, corporations with high political connections have been above the law for a long time now