Thanks judge. Taxpayers and justice take another fist in the ass because judge doesn't agree with jury verdict against Custer Battles L.L.C. More about the atrocities below the flip.
From the New York Times -
http://www.nytimes.com/...
A federal judge has set aside a verdict of corporate fraud in Iraq on disputed technical grounds, raising questions about the ability of whistleblowers and the United States government to pursue companies that profited illegally in Iraq during the chaotic year after the invasion.
Last March, based on evidence provided by two company whistleblowers, a federal jury in Virginia found that the contractor Custer Battles L.L.C. had filed grossly inflated invoices to the Coalition Provisional Authority. In the civil suit, the first Iraq-related case to be brought under the False Claims Act, the company was declared liable for more than $10 million in damages and penalties.
And what could be the technicallity that would reverse this verdict?
But an underlying issue, raised by Custer Battles during its trial and on appeal, was whether bills submitted to the Coalition Provisional Authority could be regarded as bills presented to the United States government. The coalition authority was an entity created and largely financed by the United States to run Iraq, and largely staffed by American officials, but with an ambiguous legal status.
So even though America is getting hit with the tab for the Iraq disaster apparently this judge doesn't see defrauding the Iraqi gov't as the same as fucking ole Uncle Sam.
This is great news for the war profiteers since this was the first case of a few dozen that were to be tried. So our gov't is so incompitent that when it lets contractors rip us off they can't even make a law that can prevent it. It makes my head hurt.