annnd teh beat goes on: Jury Finds Pipe Maker Defrauded Governments

[dixiegrrrrl]

First: the facts

A federal jury in California found on Thursday that the nation’s largest maker of plastic pipe defrauded states and municipalities over a decade by knowingly selling them defective pipe for use in their drinking water, firefighting, irrigation and other essential public systems.

The jury’s decision entitles the states and municipalities to be compensated for their losses by the manufacturer, JM Eagle, a private company based in Los Angeles that has 20 plants in the United States and Mexico.

Snip...

turns out, it was the pipe company's former engineer who was fired for whisltblowing on the rip off.
He filed under the False Claims Act, a law that allows private citizens to sue on behalf of government agencies that they believe have been defrauded. Such cases are typically brought on behalf of a federal agency, like the Pentagon or the Medicare program.

Hmmmmmmmmm....there's an idea.

And the owner of the company?

Formosa Plastics, a Taiwanese conglomerate built by Y.C. Wang, who ranked second on a Forbes listing of the wealthiest people in Taiwan. His son, Walter Wang, became president of the pipe business in 1994 and bought it from Formosa Plastics for $100 million in 2005.
Today he is the sole owner of JM Eagle.

the guy is kinda screwed because :

JM Eagle’s former corporate parent, the Formosa Plastics Group of Taiwan, was a co-defendant, but it has offered to settle its part of the case for $22.5 million, the parties disclosed on Thursday.

AND

Three states and 42 municipalities participated in the seven-week trial, and hundreds more qualify to participate in the second one because they also bought the affected pipe.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/jury-finds-pipe-maker-defrauded-governments/?src=dlbksb&_r=0

[Scuba]

1. The TPP will protect future Wangs.