Area contractor to pay fines in false-claims case, DOJ says
A Central Florida contractor that faced allegations of lying about its location to obtain federal benefits will pay a fine of $250,000, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Air Ideal Inc. currently says it is located in Winter Park. But the company in recent years also has listed addresses in Oviedo, downtown Orlando, and Chuluota. The owners, Kim and Mitch Amkraut, lived in Winter Springs, according to court documents.
Air Ideal had pulled down $5 million in federal contracts, including military work, by claiming it was located in a special government zone known as a HUBZone, or Historically Underutilized Business Zone. The government alleged in a civil lawsuit that the business was not in a HUBZone.
The HUBZone program was set up to
Air Ideal had pulled down $5 million in federal contracts claiming it was located in a Historically Underutilized Business Zone, a program set up for economically depressed areas.
channel more government contracts to business in economically depressed areas. The Small Business Administration has maps of local zones on its website.
Air Ideal and its owners also agreed to pay 5 percent of revenues during the next five years. The company is also listed as a “self-certified woman-owned company” because Kim Amkraut owns a majority of it, according to Air Ideal’s website.
The Amkrauts were originally dragged into court when a competing contractor, Pavkov Contracting Co. of Sumter, S.C., filed a whistleblower lawsuit. The CFO at Pavkov, Patricia Hopson, apparently noticed that the company address wasn’t actually in a HUBZone.
The government alleged that the Amkrauts fabricated a lease agreement and other documents to show that they were in a virtual office location in downtown Orlando.
Because Hopson was the original whistleblower, she will receive $42,500 under the federal Whistleblower Act.
The DOJ noted that the Amkrauts didn’t admit liability in the case; they only agreed to settle the allegations by agreeing to a fine.