CHICAGO — The state of Illinois has reached a $2 million settlement with a multiregional construction company over claims of minority-owned business fraud, according to the Illinois Attorney General's Office.
The settlement was reached with F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen & Associates LLC (FHP) which the Attorney General's Office alleges used a minority-owned business to get the contracts for "publicly funded projects" from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD). FHP falsely claimed it satisfied its requirement to use small, minority- and women-owed businesses for any subcontracting, the Attorney General's Office said.
“Instead of following the rules and hiring a minority-owned business to perform significant work as part of the MWRD contract, these two construction companies skirted the rules to unlawfully secure publicly funded contracts,” Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a statement.
The settlement also includes Independent Mechanical Industries Inc. (IMI), a Chicago construction company, paying $150,000 for also submitting false claims to the MWRD, according to Madigan's office.
The fraud allegations against FHP stem from whistleblower allegations that led to an investigation by the Attorney General's Office.