Andrew Grosso & Associates Announces Settlement of Whistleblower Lawsuit Against the Sanmina Corporation and SCI Technology, Inc.

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Andrew Grosso & Associates, a District of Columbia law firm, announced today the settlement and dismissal of a whistleblower lawsuit against the defense contractor SCI Technology, Inc., and its parent corporation, the Sanmina Corporation. The lawsuit alleged SCI knowingly misapplied its internal cost accounting system to achieve excess profits on government contracts by misrepresenting actual and anticipated manufacturing costs.

SCI is an Alabama corporation whose various business lines include providing and repairing products for the U.S. military. Sanmina is a Delaware corporation and is the parent company of SCI. The whistleblower who filed this lawsuit is Mr. Carl R. Eckert, the former Senior Director for Contracts, Proposals, Pricing & Security for SCI. He is a resident of North Redington Beach, Florida.

The allegations in the lawsuit include that, beginning in or about 2011, SCI changed its method of calculating costs from a job order basis to a process basis, while representing to the Defense Contracts Management Agency that it had made no change; and this permitted SCI to fraudulently increase the perceived costs of its manufacture of hardware, resulting in increased profits on its actual costs. The Complaint also alleges that SCI violated the Service Contract Act by failing to pay non-professional employees the wages and fringe benefits required to be paid to those employees for specific categories of contracts.

Mr. Eckert and his attorneys litigated the case to conclusion without Government intervention. In resolving the case, Defendants SCI and Sanmina agreed to pay the Government $4.5 million, of which Mr. Eckert will receive an amount between 25% and 30%. The Defendants also agreed to pay $1.4 million to Mr. Eckert for attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses. SCI and Sanmina have admitted no wrongdoing in their settlement.

The case is United States ex rel. Eckert v. SCI Technologies, Inc., No. 1:20-cv-01442, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The case was initially filed by the law firms of Andrew Grosso & Associates, a Washington, D.C., law firm concentrating in whistleblower litigation; Florin | Roebig, P.A., a Palm Harbor, Florida, law firm; and Todd Foster, Esq., a Tampa, Florida, attorney. The case was litigated to conclusion by Andrew Grosso & Associates; Russell & Russell, P.A., a Jacksonville, Florida, law firm concentrating in civil litigation; and Robert. J. Martinez, Esq., a Corrales, New Mexico, attorney concentrating in government contracting.