TriMark USA, LLC, the nation’s largest restaurant supply company, paid a historic $48.5 million to resolve allegations of small business contract fraud.

The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced its False Claims Act Settlements and Judgments summary for fiscal year 2022. According to the DOJ, the total number of settlements exceeded $2 billion which is the second-highest number of settlements and judgments in a single year.

In the announcement, the DOJ listed the top settlements in various fraud categories, including small business contract fraud. Baron & Budd’s case against TriMark USA, LLC was listed among the top settlements and recognized as the largest non-health care False Claims Act recovery in 2022. The TriMark matter also represents the largest-ever False Claims Act settlement based on allegations of small-business set-aside contracting fraud. The TriMark recovery surpasses the previous small business contract fraud record settlement of $37 million against Atlantic Diving Supply, which also resulted from a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Baron & Budd.

“We are very pleased with the outcome in this case and honored to be recognized in the government’s end-of-year False Claims Act summary. This case continues to serve as a warning to individuals and companies that the DOJ and whistleblowers will continue to work together to expose these fraudulent schemes that rob legitimate small businesses of crucial opportunities,” said Andrew Miller, a Baron & Budd shareholder.

In the historic case against TriMark, Baron & Budd represented a whistleblower who initiated the lawsuit alleging that TriMark violated the False Claims Act by fraudulently obtaining government contracts set aside for service-disabled veteran owned small businesses. TriMark is categorized as a large business by the Small Business Administration because of its number of employees and annual revenue. However, TriMark allegedly used multiple small businesses as a “pass-through” to obtain tens of millions of dollars of government contracts earmarked for small businesses.

The success of these cases is due to the strong public/private partnership between whistleblowers and the Department of Justice. The DOJ continually reinforces its commitment to preventing fraud by increasing incentives for whistleblowers to come forward and file lawsuits on behalf of the federal government. Whistleblowers can receive between 15% and 30% of the recovery in successful cases.

For more information, visit www.becomeawhistleblower.com.

About Baron & Budd, P.C.

Baron & Budd, P.C. is among the largest and most accomplished plaintiffs’ law firms in the country. With more than 40 years of experience, Baron & Budd has the expertise and resources to handle complex litigation throughout the United States. As a law firm that takes pride in remaining at the forefront of litigation, Baron & Budd has spearheaded many significant cases for hundreds of entities and thousands of individuals. Since the firm was founded in 1977, Baron & Budd has achieved substantial national acclaim for its work on cutting-edge litigation, trying hundreds of cases to verdict and settling tens of thousands of cases in areas of litigation as diverse and significant as dangerous and highly addictive pharmaceuticals, defective medical devices, asbestos and mesothelioma, California wildfires and environmental contamination, fraudulent banking practices, e-cigarettes, motor vehicles, federal and state whistleblower cases, and other consumer fraud issues.

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