An Associated Press report carried by the Detroit Free Press on July 22, 2006 says that former Pentagon officials have been accused of conspiring to help Custer Battles obtain Iraq rebuilding contracts, despite the fact that the firm had been suspended by the military in 2004 for submitting millions of dollars in fake invoices.
The allegations are part of a whistle-blower suit that claims that the former acting Navy Secretary and the former acting Navy Undersecretary plotted with Custer Battles to set up sham companies to get around the suspension order. These shell companies allegedly sold weapons on the Iraqi black market, creating a possibility that they would be bought by insurgents.
One of the whistle-blowers in the current suit won a $10-million judgment in another suit when a federal jury agreed that Custer Battles had swindled the government by billing for work that was never done and by padding invoices.