Reston Company to Pay $9 Million to Settle Civil False Claims Act Allegations

Global Computer Enterprises, Inc. (GCE), of Reston, along with its president and sole owner, Raed Muslimani, 53, of Sterling, have agreed to pay $9 million to settle civil claims stemming from allegations that GCE concealed its utilization of prohibited engineers and employees on software services contracts with the federal government, according to a news release from the FBI.

GCE, a cloud-based “software as a service” provider, provided the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) with financial management software services pursuant to competitively awarded federal contracts, according to the FBI.

During the competitions for those contracts and after award, GCE allegedly misrepresented and/or concealed that it was utilizing engineers and other employees who were expressly prohibited from working on the contracts due to their citizenship/immigration statuses, the FBI noted.

GCE was additionally awarded software development services contracts with the General Services Administration (GSA), the United States Secret Service, and the United States Coast Guard (USCG).

In those contracts as well, it is alleged that GCE repeatedly misrepresented and/or concealed its use of engineers and employees expressly prohibited from working on those contracts due to their security clearance statuses, labor qualifications, or overseas locations, according to the FBI.

To resolve the allegations under the civil False Claims Act and other related statutory and common law remedies, GCE and Muslimani agreed to pay the United States $9 million, to be paid out of GCE’s Chapter 11 proceeding.

The Bankruptcy Court approved the settlement on April 22. GCE filed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition on Sept. 4, 2014, and the United States filed a proof of claim on Feb. 27.

The civil claims settled by GCE, Muslimani, and the United States are allegations only; there has been no determination of civil liability, the FBI noted.

The case was investigated by the GSA Office of Inspector General (OIG), the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the DOL-OIG, the EEOC-OIG, with assistance from the USCG Investigative Service and the United States Secret Service.