The United States Attorney’s Office has announced the resolution of a civil False Claims Act investigation into Hyman Brickle & Son, a Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based textile manufacturing company that supplies products to the US military. The investigation focused on allegations that the company sold woolen blankets to the US Department of Defense despite knowing that they were produced using labor from India, rather than US labor, as required by federal law.
Through legislation known as the Berry Amendment, Congress has mandated that textiles sold to the Department of Defense be produced in the United States, including using US labor for their production. The government claims that Hyman Brickle’s sale of nonconforming goods to the Department of Defense violated the False Claims Act.
As part of the False Claims Act settlement, Hyman Brickle will pay $492,236 to the federal government, representing full restitution for the cost of the product paid for by the US government and double the damages on the relevant claims. The case was investigated by the US Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office, and the US Army Criminal Investigation Division, Major Procurement Fraud Field Office. Assistant US Attorney Bethany Wong handled the litigation of this matter.
