"(PRWEB) March 23, 2006 -- In a surprise move the United States Department of Justice has unsealed a Qui Tam lawsuit,(Whistleblower) that was previously unknown. The lawsuit deals with the original conspiracy to defraud the Government of funds through DOD projects and contracts. The lawsuit further implicates Congressman Cunningham, Congressman Hunter, Brent Wilkes President of ADCS Inc., and several other participants in the conspiracy. Mr. Cunningham has already been sentenced to the Federal Penitentiary for a period of 100 months for a part of his role in the conspiracy.unfortunately i can't download the lawsuit there - so i dont have any more details apart from this preview (pdf) of a book the guy wrote . Apparently the case also involves Dusty Foggo, and ex-FBI (and CIA director William H. Webster. Webster was on the board of U.S. Technologies Inc., a once high-flying Washington firm, which "ceased to exist as a publicly traded company when its stock was de-registered yesterday, four months after chief executive C. Gregory Earls was convicted of defrauding investors of $13.8 million." (link)
The lawsuit was filed by Richard A. Carden of Rolla Missouri. During the Dot Com era Mr. Carden had invented and perfected a process that revolutionized data migration and archiving. As a result of Mr. Cardens’ involvement in this business he had specific knowledge of various schemes to defraud the Government. When the stories of the Congressional fraud began to break, Mr.Carden became aware that the Government was attempting to discover what had happened. After conferencing with the DOJ, Mr. Carden filed his Qui Tam lawsuit. It should be pointed out that Mr. Carden was not involved in any of the schemes to defraud the Government. He was aware of them as attempts to lure him and his companies into the conspiracy had been offered previously.
The lawsuit filed by Mr. Carden specifically identifies the conspiracy, the originators, and the subsequent role that Mr. Wilkes had in the matter. The lawsuit seeks to recover upwards of fifty million dollars.
The Department Of Justice has been investigating the issues within the lawsuit since mid August. By unsealing the lawsuit it now becomes public knowledge. The DOJ has reserved the right to intervene in the case at anytime in the future. The act of unsealing the case does not in anyway dismiss the case. It will remain open and ongoing.
Mr. Carden has written and published several books under the Pen Name of Dick C. One of those books, The Shark Tank, by Dick C, deals specifically with many of the matters covered within the Qui Tam lawsuit.
Interested parties who would like to view or print the lawsuit can do so by visiting the website www.dickc.com . All of the materials can be downloaded free of charge."
more:
"William H. Webster was chosen to head the federal accounting board panel created in the wake of the scandals at Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. Following news reports that U.S. Technologies had been sued for fraud by investors, Webster withdrew his name from consideration. The brouhaha helped prompt the resignation of Webster's sponsor, Harvey L. Pitt, who was chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission at the time."
I'm reminded of emptywheel's recent post: "BushCo Needs a New Vet"
"Bernie Kerik. Heckova Job Brownie. Claude Allen. Dusty Foggo. Ben Domenech. And while we're at it, Domenech's dad.as i said, 'possibly interesting'
I'm sure I'm missing a few. And in any case, those are only the ones we've managed to catch. An increasingly long line of "vetting mistakes."
I once believed Kerik might be a mistake. But six, seven appointees later, plus all the ones I've forgotten that you'll remind me of in comments...six is a pattern.
It's a pattern. But I'm no longer sure it's an accidental pattern. [...]
Or, increasingly likely, they knew precisely what they had on Ben Domenech. He was the most qualified person they could find, remember. Just like Bernie Kerik was "superbly qualified." [...]
But given the pattern, I'm beginning to suspect these checkered pasts--a little shoplifting addiction, a little plagiarism, a little extramarital sex while the building smolder outside, a few mob ties--these checkered pasts seem to be as big a requisite as party loyalty. Vet them for party loyalty, but make sure there's dirt there, to keep them obedient to even the most outrageous requests."
update: comment removed
6 comments:
Despite this guy's press release, this suit is pretty much dead as a dodo. The reason it was maintained under seal until recently was to allow the US Atty's office and the FBI to investigate this guy's claims and decide whether there was substantial merit to justify the US gov't's intercession in the matter.
The DoJ has declined to intercede, and has asked that the suit now be unsealed and served on ADCS and Wilkes. So, once their lawyers get wind of this, the case will be almost certainly dismissed in short notice, especially given that Carden currently has no lawyer to represent him.
I don't know if the guy's claims have any merit (all of the interesting stuff is still under seal, and probably will remain that way), or if he's just a crackpot, but hey, it wouldn't surprise me.
If I were a cynical person, I'd almost think that Carden was being set up as the quasi-reliable contractor in a sea of straw contractors. In essence, Carden may (or may not) have had a workable process for this automated document conversion system, but it didn't really matter to Wilkes, Cunningham and Hunter. They never intended to actually scan the documents in. If I had to guess, this was a quasi-legit way to get their hands on sensitive documents that they could then sell to the highest bidder overseas. It would be interesting to know what sorts of documents that they had access to.
If nothing else, the suit gives us a few more names and one more company (TomaHawk II) that might be worth following up on.
One other thing I forgot to mention.
Carden's "process" is filed with the US Copyright office, not the Patent and Trademark offices. Which is to say that and $1.50 will buy you a cup of coffee.
Copyright protection only prevents someone from reproducing your work without your express permission. That means, that they can't reproduce exactly the written treatise that contains this guy's ideas. But it doesn't mean that they can't then use that information to recreate their own system and sell that.
In other words, without a patent, anyone could look up this guy's description, recreate the process and proceed to make money off of it. And there'd be nothing this guy could do legally against it.
This means, that a) he probably tried to patent this technology, and the patent office turned him down and b) he probably couldn't deliver the goods on automatic document conversion any more than ADCS or any other company "claims" they could.
My guess is that he had some kind of a working prototype system, but that it still couldn't meet the needs of the DoD and wasn't "unique" enough to warrant a patent. Wilkes probably tried to recruit him into the conspiracy by offering to buy him out at a ludicrous sum, but this guy still believed in his stuff and thought he could go head-to-head with these guys. Pretty naive, if you ask me.
Viget is wrong and not reading what
the pleadings say.
The DOJ has three options. They are, intervene, not intervene, move to dismiss.
If you read the order, the chose not to intervene at this time. Further, the Order says it cannot be dismissed unless the DOJ agrees to it. To say that the Defense will have it dismissed. Sorry, read the order.
So the question is, why did'nt the DOJ simply dismiss it. The answer is very obvious. They wanted the Defendants to be aware of the case and the charges---ALSO--if you read
the Order, much of the case remains Sealed.
As regards the copyright versus a patent---and that has what to do with the case---how about nothing.
The case is about stealing money not a copyright or patent.
I suggest you read the materials again focusing on the black part.
It appears that the DOJ is applying pressure using this lawsuit.
Nice Try!!! Read it again!!!!
i have read all the materials they seem to say exactly what anon says
viget is a student at washington u in st louis which is the alma of the good judge and many of the other players-is there another agenda here??????
anon--
Believe me, no one more than I wants your suit to go forward. I have no connections to anything in this case (other than, yes I'm in St. Louis). I thought it an interesting development. And I'm hoping it leads to more developments and perhaps indictments in the Wilkes-ADCS-Cunningham probe.
I'm curious to know what the DoJ is telling you wrt the suit. Do they want it to go forward? The way I read the filings it seemed like they just didn't have the political will power to intervene, but as you rightly point out, still reserve their right to intercede should further developments warrant it. I hope my sense is wrong here, and IANAL, so take all my musings with a grain of salt.
Obviously, I don't know the whole story. I want to believe everything alleged in the suit. And I wouldn't be surprised if it's true. I'm just saying, you're going up against guys with major CIA connections here, it's gonna be a little difficult to prove what you allege. And I know the system is corruptible. Please, I want to be on your side. But it would be nice if there was a little more hard evidence to back up the assertations. I trust that you have said evidence and perhaps it's under seal. That's okay. I will be avidly following the outcome of this case.
And I am sorry about my speculation re: copyright. Again, I don't know the facts, so perhaps it was irresponsible for me to comment.
I wish you the best of luck in this action. I hope something good comes from it.
I have known Mr. Carden for over 50 years. Since High School no one to my knowledge has ever believed one thing that comes from his lips. From what others who also know him have told me, he has had two sets of lips surgically implanted, due the to lies wearing out his lips, which he has told with such rapidity.
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