Federal Suit Alleges Fraud by Mover Over Military Shipments

One household goods mover and an affiliate have allegedly swindled millions of dollars from the federal government by submitting false claims about relocating military personnel, according to a recently disclosed lawsuit.

The State newspaper reports a civil action has been filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Columbia, S.C. charging Covan World-Wide Moving, and its affiliate, Coleman-American Moving Services, “systematically falsified weight certificates, shipping records and invoices by increasing shipment weights,” over a period of several years.

Attorney’s for both deny the charges, with one calling the claims, “frankly outrageous.”

According to the lawsuit, since 2009, the defendants have billed the federal government “$723 million worth of shipping and relocation services provided to the nation’s uniformed service personnel.” It does not specifically say how much of the amount is allegedly phony, however, it notes one group of shipments reweighed by the government showed close to 80% were billed in excess of their actual weight.

The suit was filed and sealed nearly two years ago and only recently became public.

More about this is available from The State.