Delta Airlines Inc. (Delta) agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle its alleged False Claims Act liability for falsely reporting information about the transfer of US mail to foreign posts or other intended recipients under contracts with the US Postal Service, the Justice Department announced today (USPS). Delta is a Delaware-based international airline with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
“The United States expects the air carriers with which the USPS contracts to accurately report the services they provide,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
“The resolution announced today reflects the department’s commitment to pursuing contractors that do not meet their contractual obligations to the United States and misrepresent their failure to perform.”
The United States Postal Service contracted with Delta to take possession of U.S. mail receptacles at six locations in the United States or at various Department of Defense and State Department locations abroad, and then deliver that mail to a variety of international and domestic destinations.
Delta was required to submit electronic scans of the mail receptacles to USPS reporting the time the mail was delivered at the specified destinations in order to receive payment under the contracts. Penalties were stipulated in the contracts for mail that was delivered late or to the incorrect location. The settlement resolves allegations that Delta’s scans misrepresented the time and fact that it transferred possession of the mail.
“The USPS contracts with commercial airlines for the safeguarding and timely delivery of U.S. mail to foreign posts, including the mail sent to our soldiers deployed to foreign operating bases,” said Executive Special Agent in Charge Ken Cleevely of USPS, Office of Inspector General (OIG).
“The OIG supports the Postal Service by aggressively investigating allegations of contractual non-compliance within the mail delivery process, including the falsification of delivery information. Our special agents worked hand-in-hand with the Department of Justice to help ensure a reasonable resolution and we applaud the exceptional work done by the investigative and legal teams.”
The resolution in this case was the result of a collaborative effort between the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the USPS OIG and Office of General Counsel. The government was represented in the civil case by Senior Trial Counsel Don Williamson of the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section.
This is the sixth civil settlement involving air carrier liability for false delivery scans under the USPS ICAIR Contracts, and the US has recovered more than $80 million in total as a result of its investigation of such misconduct.
The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.