C.W. Matthews, False Claims, Georgia 2023

A Georgia-based construction firm has agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations that it submitted false and misleading certifications to the Government regarding work performed on federally funded highway construction projects.

C.W. Matthews Contracting Company, a Marietta, GA-based firm, reached a settlement with the U.S. Federal Highway Administration over allegations that it violated the False Claims Act.

The investigation revealed that C.W. Matthews submitted false certifications regarding its compliance with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program, or DBE Program, which requires that a specified percentage of the work be sub-contracted to firms meeting the statutory definition of a Disadvantaged Business Entity.

The contractor promised to subcontract with a DBE firm called Longoria Trucking to satisfy the contracts’ DBE goals, but the investigation revealed that it was a non-DBE trucking firm called G.E. Robinson that performed most of the work and received most of the payments.

C.W. Matthews either knew, or should have known, of the scheme between Longoria and G.E. Robinson, and continued issuing false and misleading certifications to the Government.

The settlement also requires C.W. Matthews to adopt an ethics code and a corporate compliance program, appoint a compliance officer, and retain an independent monitor to assess its performance.

‘To receive the tangible and intangible benefits that it contracts for, the United States expects companies that actively seek and obtain federally funded contracts to be diligent and forthright in fulfilling their contractual obligations to the Government,’ said Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn.