A whistleblower alleges that an international security firm with training operations in Georgia defrauded the federal government when it sent guards to protect U.S. diplomats and others stationed in Afghanistan without ensuring the security personnel were properly trained, according an amended complaint filed in federal court in Macon last month.

The case has forced scrutiny on GardaWorld Federal Services and its training program in Middle Georgia where a whistleblower said the fraud was centered. The whistleblower, GardaWorld employee Justin Fahn, is alleging that the company failed to properly train nearly 100 guards that passed through the program in Perry before they were sent to protect the U.S. Embassy and other facilities in Afghanistan.

GardaWorld’s federal contract required classroom and hands-on instruction, including physical fitness and use of force training, but the company falsified training records and misled the federal government that was paying for the protection, Fahn alleges.

The alleged fraud “seriously jeopardized the safety of Department of State personnel and assets in Afghanistan,” Fahn said in the lawsuit originally unsealed in September in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Fahn, a GardaWorld unit support coordinator, discovered the training deficiencies while stationed in Afghanistan, said his Atlanta attorney Jess Johnson. Johnson said Justin and other GardaWorld personnel were involved in vital security tasks to defend...

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