Image courtesy of Iron MountainDocument storage firm Iron Mountain paid $44.5 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that it overcharged federal agencies.
Brent Stanley, a former Iron Mountain employee, and Patrick McKillop, who worked in the records management industry, filed their FCA lawsuit in California.
They’ll split just over $8 million from the settlement, the DOJ said.
Their lawyer, Paul D. Scott, said his clients were “extremely gratified by the resolution of the case.” And they’re pleased, Scott said, that the government will save money on future contracts.
The qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act allow private parties to sue on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in the government’s recovery.
Iron Mountain is headquartered in Boston. The company said in a statement it had “proactively” self-reported pricing issues to the GSA before the civil complaint was filed. It said it cooperated with the DOJ to reach a resolution.
Ernest Cloutier, an Iron Mountain vice president and lawyer, said, “We are pleased to have reached this resolution and put the matter behind us, and we look forward to continuing to support our federal government customers.”
The settlement relates to GSA contracts for record storage from 2001 to 2014. The whistleblower suit alleged that Iron Mountain failed to provide the GSA with accurate pricing information during contract negotiations. There were also allegations that Iron Mountain didn’t give the GSA favored pricing required by the contracts and that the storage didn’t meet National Archives and Records Administration requirements.
The DOJ said the claims resolved by the settlement “are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.”
Iron Mountain Incorporated trades on the NYSE under the symbol IRM.
The lawsuit was United States ex rel. Brent Stanley and Patrick McKillop v. Iron Mountain Incorporated, Civil Action No. 11-3260 (E.D. Cal.).
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
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