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BACKGROUND The company's founders are Scott Custer, a former Army Ranger and defense consultant, and former CIA officer Michael Battles, who ran for Congress in Rhode Island in 2002 and was defeated in the Republican primary. Battles is a Fox News Channel commentator. {Link without Title} Custer Battles was a newly formed company with no experience in the security industry when it landed one of the first contracts issued in Iraq in the spring of 2003 to secure the airport. The no-bid contract was worth $16 million when it was awarded in the chaos after the fall of Saddam Hussein . {Link without Title} On July 1, 2003, the company announced that it would "bring its security training expertise to the State of Maine." {Link without Title} On April 9, 2004, BBC News reported that a Custer Battles employee and former British soldier, Michael Bloss , "was killed while guarding electrical workers near the town of Hit, west of Baghdad." {Link without Title} A litany of complaints against Custer Battles can be found in the Forum section of ALI Capital Partners . {Link without Title} Custer Battles is currently banned from further Department Of Defense contracting.[http://www.taf.org] A ''qui tam'' lawsuit has been filed against it by several parties seeking recovery, on behalf of the US, of allegedly fraudulent claims by Custer Battles. A copy of the complaint can be downloaded from [http://www.taf.org/custerbattles.pdf here.] ALLEGATIONS OF UNRESTRAINED FORCE "These aren't insurgents that we're brutalizing," says Craun. "It was local civilians on their way to work. It's wrong." Capt. Bill Craun is one of four former Custer Battles employees in an NBC report that allege civilian contractors used such unrestrained force in Iraq, they had to quit soon after because of disgust. "What we saw, I know the American population wouldn't stand for," Craun said referring to subcontracted local youth shooting the place up. PROSECUTION FOR FRAUD In March 2006 a jury found Custer Battles guilty of 30 separate fraudulent acts, each one of which is subject to a US$11,000 penalty. The frauds, prosecuted under the False Claims Act , related to the provision of services in Iraq for the US Government. Retired Brigadier General Hugh Tant III told the court that Custer Battles fraud "was probably the worst I've ever seen in my 30 years in the Army." Tant told that in one case Custer Battles contracted to supply trucks to the military, but provided vehicles that did not run and had to be towed to the site. When confronted, Mike Battles is said to have responded: "You asked for trucks and we complied with our contract and it is immaterial whether the trucks were operational." [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-03-09-defense-contractor_x.htm FURTHER ALLEGED FRAUD Another trial, with the same set of Whistleblowers , concerns a separate $16.8 million contract awarded to Custer Battles to provide security at Baghdad International Airport . EXTERNAL LINKS Website
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