The United States Department of Justice settled a case against aircraft parts foundry WDC Acquisitions LLC d/b/a Wellman Dynamics (WDC) for allegations of failure to perform required testing and then lying about the results. Under the terms of the settlement, the aircraft parts manufacturer, a subcontractor to various big-name prime defense contractors, paid $500,000. The whistleblower is a WDC employee who internally reported the issues with testing. They are receiving $90,000 as a reward for reporting fraud, with an additional $15,000 to settle a retaliation claim.
According to court documents, the whistleblower alleged that the parts manufacturer did not properly test its large metal castings in the following ways. At various times in 2014-2021 relating to three different types of materials tests, WDC allegedly failed to report testing failures and then did not re-test products, it falsified test results, failed to conduct testing entirely, and recycled passing test results for parts that did not actually pass the tests. Saying that a product meets a requirement when it in fact does not, and then billing the government for that product, is a false claim; receiving government funds for defective products as part of a government contract violates the False Claims Act.
The government relies on contractors to provide goods and services that it cannot otherwise create. When a subcontractor falsely certifies the safety of the parts they send to prime contractors which—in...
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