Dive Brief:

• Payments of $1.9 million by five masonry companies based in California will close a U.S. Justice Department investigation of charges that the five falsely claimed to be small, disadvantaged businesses in order to get a piece of contracts for work at the Marines' Camp Pendleton in California and Camp Lejeune in North Carolinas.
• The settlement does not require Frazier Masonry Corp., F-Y Inc., CTI Concrete & Masonry Inc., Masonry Technology Inc. or Masonry Works Inc. to admit wrongdoing.
• The investigation covered work done from 2009 to 2012 and included allegations that the companies misrepresented themselves to prime contractors to meet contract requirements for small business participation.

Dive Insight:

The Justice Department took over the investigation after a former Frazier Masonry worker filed lawsuits in North Carolina under a whistle-blower provision in the federal False Claims Act. Rickey Howard will get $393,383 in the settlement.