Mistakes may have been made in the grant process, but the notion that these individuals and their agencies were all involved in some massive predatory and prolonged conspiracy to defraud the federal government is not only far-fetched but simply wrong,” Reyes said in a prepared statement.Īmong the 37 defendants are corrections executive director Mike Haddon, Utah Highway Patrol Col. “They are upstanding public servants of Utah. “The activity that’s alleged in the complaint seems to be a way of doing business within those agencies.”Īttorney General Sean Reyes said although the alleged wrongdoing occurred before he took office, he looks forward to “vigorously” defending the state agencies and the “people who protect Utah.” “They don’t do this unless there is strong evidence of wrongdoing, of fraud against the United States government,” he said. 11 to file a new complaint.īill Schmidt, a Fresno, California, attorney for Williams, said the federal government intervening means the case has “absolute merit.” Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City filed a notice to take over the case. Williams, 59, who is serving a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault and aggravated robbery, became aware of the fraudulent conduct while working in the prison print shop and observing corrections employees, paid with grant funds, violating terms of the grant awards, the lawsuit says. Department of Justice to launch an investigation. Utah prison inmate Reginald Williams filed the lawsuit as a whistleblower under seal with private attorneys in 2015, leading the U.S. The lawsuit seeks to recover damages amounting to at least $50 million and $11,000 for each violation of the federal False Claims Act totaling more than $1.2 million. “Defendants were engaging in several interlocking conspiracies to obtain millions of dollars in federal funds which the Utah state agencies were not entitled to receive,” the lawsuit says. The Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice also obtained justice assistance funds, which it awarded to other state agencies, according to the suit. But in each case, the agency had a budget surplus or cuts were restored before the grant funds expired.
The attorney general’s office, Utah Administrative Office of the Courts, Utah Department of Public Safety, state Division of Juvenile Justice and the Utah Department of Corrections all lost jobs due to budget cuts. District Judge Robert Shelby unsealed last week. “In 2008, while the rest of the country lost jobs due to the economic recession, Utah officials throughout the law enforcement sector were conspiring to defraud the United States of tens of millions of dollars in BJA grant funding,” according to the 103-page lawsuit that U.S. District Court claims 37 current and former state workers applied for and received Bureau of Justice Assistance funds using a “mosaic” of false statements, fraudulent grant applications and certifications from 2009 to 2013. SALT LAKE CITY - Several state criminal justice agencies, including the Utah Attorney General’s Office, falsely obtained multiple millions of dollars in federal stimulus money earmarked for states struggling in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis, according to a recently unsealed lawsuit.
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