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HIGH-TECH FIRMS PAY $4.5 MILLION TO SETTLE ALLEGATIONS

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- California-based high-tech firm Research and Development Laboratories, Inc. (RDL) has agreed to pay the United States $4,554,686 to settle claims that it overbilled the Air Force from fiscal year 1994 through 1998, the Justice Department announced today. As part of the settlement, one of its subsidiaries, RDL Space Corporation, agreed to relinquish its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) license to operate a remote-sensing satellite system, which takes photographic and radar images of earth.

RDL obtained a contract in 1994 to place university professors and students in Air Force laboratories to conduct research in the fields of physical and biological sciences. The company performed this service through the summer of 2000.

"This settlement illustrates the Justice Department's determination to recover funds inappropriately billed on government contracts," said David W. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.

The claims originated from a qui tam or whistleblower suit under the False Claims Act. The suit, filed by Liam Weston, a former RDL employee, charged that the company inflated its billings by $2 million. The suit also named other defendants including the President of RDL, Dr. Birendra Dutt, and a related company, Commercial Technologies Corporation. Under the terms of the settlement, Weston will receive 20% of the funds the government recovers.

CodeStream Technologies Corporation and Code Stream Holdings, Inc., owners of Commercial Technology Corporations's assets, are also parties to the settlement.

RDL Space Corporation is also known as RDL Sar Sat Corporation, doing business as Space Radar Corporation.

The civil settlement resulted from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, assisted by the Defense Contract Audit Agency. The Office of Space Enforcement of NOAA conducted a parallel investigation that resulted in RDL Space Corporation's agreement to return its license for the remote satellite sensing system.

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