Settlement reached in whistleblower lawsuit claiming MN failed to recover all the money owed after multi-year scheme to overcharge on police squad cars.
FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — A man who blew the whistle on a scheme to double-bill Minnesota police and sheriff departments on their squad cars has settled a lawsuit he brought that claimed Minnesota officials failed to fully hold a former state vendor accountable for overcharges.
The civil lawsuit by Steve Kleiber alleged that Nelson Auto Center of Fergus Falls still owed money to the state and more than 200 law enforcement agencies across Minnesota in the wake of a double billing scandal first exposed more than four years ago by KARE 11.
In a statement to KARE 11, Nelson Auto indicated it already repaid all it owed, but made the “business decision” to settle the case to avoid the cost of further litigation.
Steve Kleiber began sounding the alarm back in 2015 when he met with officials from the Minnesota Department of Administration and investigators from the State Patrol.
After reviewing invoices for patrol cars purchased by two local departments, Kleiber says he told state officials he had uncovered examples of overbilling. They included cases in which the police departments had been charged twice for equipment that was supposed to be included in the base price of the master contract.
“And they did nothing with it,” he said. “They allowed it to continue.”
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