Gallup plans changes, will pay $10.5 million in deal to settle case

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Barbara Soderlin

The Gallup Organization will make changes to its corporate compliance and ethics programs in order to avoid criminal prosecution and continue doing business with the federal government.

Gallup also agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle allegations that it inflated cost estimates in proposals for no-bid contracts and engaged in improper negotiations with a government official who wanted a job with the firm, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.

The polling and market research firm with offices in Omaha was suspended from government contracting last year after the Justice Department joined a whistleblower lawsuit.

“This case exposed a cozy arrangement between a contractor and a government employee where nobody was looking out for the American taxpayer,” Ronald C. Machen Jr., U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement. “This significant corporate settlement and the related criminal prosecution should send a clear message that contractors and government officials alike must operate with honor and integrity.”

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20130715/MONEY/130719688/1707#gallup-to-pay-10-5-million-to-settle-claims-it-overbilled-u-s-government

[PoliticAverse]

1. So it's pay some $$$$ and avoid criminal prosecution ? n/t

[nolabels]

2. A slap on the wrist

Or pay to play (part of the cost of doing business in the US). No doubt not much if anything will change. Tough talk and little action on corporate crooks and their facilitators