ex-employees say Blackwater kept prostitute on the company payroll: "Morale Welfare Recreation"

G_j

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Thu Feb-11-10 08:57 AM
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ex-employees say Blackwater kept prostitute on the company payroll: "Morale Welfare Recreation"

Edited on Thu Feb-11-10 09:04 AM by G_j

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/11/AR2010021100232.html

2 ex-employees say Blackwater billed government for prostitute

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 11, 2010; 3:23 AM

Two former employees of Blackwater Worldwide have accused the private security contractor of defrauding the government for years with phony billing, including charging for a prostitute, alcohol and spa trips.

Plagued by missteps, Blackwater case imploded

In newly unsealed court records, a husband and wife who once worked for Blackwater said they had personal knowledge of the company falsifying invoices, double-billing federal agencies and charging the government for personal and inappropriate items whose real purpose was hidden. They said they witnessed "systematic" fraud on the company's security contracts with the Department of State in Iraq and Afghanistan, and with the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Blackwater rose to become the largest of the State Department's private security contractors and has since been paid billions of dollars to protect diplomatic employees in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other agencies' security missions. The company became a major source of anti-American sentiment in Iraq because of repeated, deadly shootings involving its guards. Iraq moved to expel Blackwater after a September 2007 incident, in which witnesses told the FBI that the company's guards shot without provocation into a busy intersection, resulting in the deaths of 17 Iraqis.

The company last year changed its name to Xe Services, LLC. An Xe spokesperson could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.

Brad and Melan Davis worked in various Blackwater locations. Brad Davis, a former Marine, served as a team leader and security guard, including in Iraq. His wife, Melan Davis, worked as a finance and payroll employee, starting in Louisiana. They have filed their allegations that Blackwater defrauded the government as part of a false claims lawsuit, which allows the whistleblowers to win a portion of any public money that the government recovers as a result of the information. However, the Justice Department has chosen not to join them in pursuing their civil suit, a decision that led to the Davises' claims being unsealed this week in a Virginia federal court.

The Davises assert that Blackwater officials kept a Fillipino prostitute on the company payroll for a State Department contract in Afghanistan, and billed the government for her time working for Blackwater male employees in Kabul. The alleged prostitute's salary was categorized as part of the company's "Morale Welfare Recreation" expenses, they said

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