Difference between revisions of "Custer Battles"

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According to its website (whose homepage displays the slogan "Transforming risk into opportunity"), '''Custer Battles''', LLC, is "an international business risk consultancy that assists our clients to operate more profitably and in more markets than their competition as a result of our expert advice."
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'''Custer Battles''', LLC is a security company based in McLean, Virginia, that promotes its services as including "security services", "litigation support", "global risk consulting", "training" and "business intelligence".
  
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The site continues,  
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==Background==
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The company's founders are [[Scott Custer]], a former US Army officer 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. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002058470_contract09.html] Both Custer and Battles are often described in the media as "former US Army Rangers." In fact, they are both mere graduates of the US Army Ranger course[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_School], a nine week US Army leadership school, and not former members of the US Army Ranger Regiment[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Army_Rangers]. The distinction may seem obscure, but it is an important one for US Army veterans, particularly veterans of the Ranger Regiment, which is one of the US Army's most elite formations.
  
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:"Our team provides the unique offering of expansive understanding of business practices combined with extensive experience managing all aspects of external risk. Through our specialized range of services, we offer our clients the ability to identify and understand the obstacles in the marketplace, formulate measures to evade or mitigate these threats, and proactively manage the process to ensure the greatest chance of business success and profit." [[http://www.custerbattles.com/aboutus/index.html 1]]
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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]]. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002058470_contract09.html]
  
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The most recent news release at the website's "press room" (as of April 9, 2004) is dated July 1, 2003, when the company announced that it would "bring its security training expertise to the State of Maine." [[http://www.custerbattles.com/press/news_070103.htm 2]]
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On July 1, 2003, the company announced that it would "bring its security training expertise to the State of Maine." [http://www.custerbattles.com/press/news_070103.htm]
  
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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." [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3614697.stm 3]]
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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." [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3614697.stm]
  
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The following quotes (with the dates they were posted) are excerpted from the Forum section of [[ALI Capital Partners]], [[http://www.alicp.com/ 4]], viewed on April 9, 2004: [[http://www.alicp.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=363 5]]
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A litany of complaints against Custer Battles can be found in the Forum section of [[ALI Capital Partners]].[http://www.alicp.com/]
  
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*"Just a warning to anyone considering a contract with Custer Battles LLC, of Fairfax,VA, the company currently awarded the contract to provide security at Baghdad International Airport. I was with them for the first month....We were all shorted on our first pay, at the end of July, and the promise to make up the difference by Aug 5 was not met. At that time the excuse was that it was easier to pay us the back wages along with our normal pay at the end of Aug. However, at least in my case, the Aug pay was also substantially light. As I had returned to the states due to a death in my family, and being owed nearly $2000, I opted to not return....A number of other well qualified professionals have also left them. If you are a true professional you will not like working for them and you will not want your name associated with them." (September 22, 2003) 
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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.]
  
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*"I've been with Custer Battles since they started here in Iraq in July. After my time in the Army, this has been the most rewarding experience I've had. Custer Battles has been good to me....I also know the guy who posted this note. He left the company after they paid $3000 up front to fly him home for a family emergency and he repays them by posting crap like this. All I know is that I enjoy what I do and I'd recommend Custer Battles to anyone...." (November 25, 2003)
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==Allegations of Unrestrained Force==
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"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 [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6947745/ 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.
  
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*"reference custer battles, please stay clear, they are dangerous, i have just left them, they left us without body armour, ammo and weapons, we had to buy all our own equipment and scrounge it from other good companies and the military, then we were told to arrange our own transport home on leave, it was unbelievable, when these points were brought up we were ignored at all levels, from washinton to bagdad....custer battles are only in it to gain as much cash as possable they definetely should not get the contract renewed in march they are dredfull in the way they conduct thier buisness, ps.to the previous...im glad you are happy mate but they are not anywhere as good as you make out...." (December 22, 2003)
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==Former executives keep working==
  
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*"Thanks for the heads-up. I work for [[ITT]]/Group4 in Bosnia. The same advice and avoidance should be applied." (December 28, 2004).  
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[http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8AM6RHO1.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down Business Week] reported on June 12, 2005 that former operations chief for Custer Battles, [[Rob Roy Trumble]], has formed new companies to bid on contracts in Iraq. Two of Trumbles new companies, [[Emergent Business Services]] and [[Tarheel Training LLC]] are housed in the fromer office of Custer Battles at Suite 100 on Hammerlund Way in Middletown Rhode Island.
  
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*"I too spent time in Iraq with Custer Battles. They are a frauduently company. Trust me, they are worried about $$ first and the employee/ bodies last. They will breach anyones contract, then screw them all the way home. Also don't trust there K9 division, there dogs are suppose to be BOMB dogs, I won't bet my life on the dogs finding anything. Also [name deleted] is a liar." (January 8, 2004)
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Interestingly enough, Rob Roy Trumble ''is'' a bona fide former member of the Ranger Regiment. Mr. Trumble served as a platoon leader in the 3d Ranger Battalion, and participated in Operation Just Cause, the invasion of Panamá.  
  
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*"Do you work for a Defense Contractor in Iraq or elswhere? Have you been mistreated, abused, injured on the job? Send your e-mail, (names are not necessary) and a short description of your situation to: lawdoggs86@yahoo.com....We will band together a network to stop these people from their sick and disgusting practices which are ruining our lives and costing our noble troops their's. Whether you work for: [[Brown & Root]]/[[Halliburton]], [[DynCorp]], [[Custer Battles]], [[ITT]] or other corrupt contracting organization, you need to take a stand. Don't be fooled. These people have strong lobbies in Washington and deep pockets filled, not only with tax payers fraudulently acquired dollars, but politicians and high ranking military officials as well. This is not a joke. If we don't start standing up to these filthy thieves, nobody will. I did not serve my country to let that happen. Nor, I believe, did you. start here: http://www.alexanderlaw.com/ all information is strictly confidential. We are preparing lists of personnel to mount mass torts, (class action lawsuits) against the various contracting organizations that have abused, mistreated and otherwise maligned security and other contracting professionals in this, our nation's time of crisis. While our soldiers die in Iraq everyday, these companies only talk about greed, greed, greed. Information will be sent to you about the various attornies and other legal organizations you can contact to put a stop to these insidious abuses." (February 12, 2004)
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Both companies are affiliated with the Romanian company, [[Danubia Global Inc.]] which is owned by [[Security Ventures International Ltd.]], a British Virgin Islands firm.
  
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*"At least we weren't the only ones with out body armour. Guns with 2 or 3 bullets. Custer Battles, needs to be investigated for Fraud! At least I am home, I have heard othe horror stories of the way they treat there people." (February 13, 2004)
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Said former CPA official, Franklin Willis, about Trumble's new companies, "They're like mushrooms, they just keep sprouting up."
  
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*"Hello, I am a foreign correspondent for a major U.S. newspaper working on stories about problems with subcontractors in Iraq - if you have specific examples of any problems, or have worked for a subcontractor I would like to hear from you!" (March 23, 2004)
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In addition, former chief financial officer [[Joseph Morris]], who had submitted fake invoices to the government which resulted in a suspension forbidding him from receiving "new public contracts in Iraq and elsewhere", has been working on reconstruction projects for [[Sallyport Global Holdings]]. Upon seeing Morris' name on the suspension list, Sallyport has said they will not renew his contract. Morris had claimed he has been exonerated for acting as a federal witness.
  
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===Contact Information===
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Morris, like Trumble, was a West Point classmate of both Custer and Battles, as were many other managers within the firm.
  
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Custer Battles<br>
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==Guilty==
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On March 9th, 2006, a federal jury in Virginia found Scott Custer, Michael Battles and Joseph Morris "guilty of defrauding the United States by filing grossly inflated invoices for work in the chaotic year after the Iraqi invasion."
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The trial dealt with only one of several CusterBattles' contracts and the jury found that the entire $3 million in the contract had been "gained by fraud". The defendants will have to "repay the government triple damages and also pay fines for 37 fraudulent acts" in what will amount to over $10 million. [http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13377]
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==Contact Information==
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Custer Battles head office<br>
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55 Hammarlund Way<br>
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Suite 100<br>
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Middletown, RI 02842, USA<br>
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Telephone: (401) 848-7500<br>
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Fax:(401) 848-7505
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Custer Battles Washington<br>
 
8201 Greensboro Drive<br>
 
8201 Greensboro Drive<br>
 
Suite 214<br>
 
Suite 214<br>
 
McLean, VA 22102<br>
 
McLean, VA 22102<br>
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info@custerbattles.com
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Email: info AT custerbattles.com <br>
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<br>Web: http://www.custerbattles.com
  
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=== SourceWatch Resources ===
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== SourceWatch Resources ==
  
 
*[[ALI Capital Partners]]
 
*[[ALI Capital Partners]]
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*[[Halliburton]]
 
*[[Halliburton]]
 
*[[ITT]]
 
*[[ITT]]
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*[[Private Military Corporations]] ([[PMC]]s)  
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*[[Private Military Corporations]] ([[PMC]]s)
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=== External Links ===
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*[[war profiteering]]
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== External links ==
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*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3614697.stm "Security worker killed in Iraq"], ''BBC News'', April 9, 2004, viewed April 9, 2004.
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*T. Christian Miller, [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002058470_contract09.html "Contractor accused of fraud in Iraq"], ''Seattle Times'', 9 October 2004.
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*[http://www.taf.org/custerbattles.pdf Text of ''qui tam'' filing] against Custer Battles.
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*Eric Eckholm, [http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11606 "Memos Warned of Billing Fraud by Firm in Iraq"], ''[[New York Times]]'', October 23, 2004.
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* David Phinney, [http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11763 "Iraq Contractor Claims Immunity From Fraud Laws"],  ''CorpWatch'', December 23, 2004.
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* Amy Goodman, "[http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/01/1521200 Custer Battles: Why Won't the Justice Dept. Intervene to Reclaim Millions From Military Contractor in Iraq?]", ''Democracy Now!'', March 1st, 2005.
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* Jason McLure, [http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1109859526942 "How a Contractor Cashed In on Iraq"], ''Legal Times'', 4 March 2005.
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*Lisa Myers, "[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6947745/ U.S. contractors in Iraq allege abuses: Four men say they witnessed brutality]", ''MSNBC'', February 17, 2005.
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* Jennifer MacDonald and Ira Rosen, [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/09/60minutes/printable1302378.shtml "Billions Wasted in Iraq?"], ''60 Minutes'', February 12, 2006.
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* Charles Babcock, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/12/AR2006021200732.html Contractor Fraud Trial to Begin Tomorrow]", ''[[Washington Post]]'', February 13, 2006.
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* Charles R. Babcock, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/15/AR2006021502466.html "Contractor Accused of Profiteering: Witness Says Custer Battles Sent Trucks That Didn't Work to Iraq"], ''Washington Post'', February 16, 2006.
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* Pauline Jelnek, "[http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834132686&path=!news&s=1045855934842 Whistle-blowers claim Iraq fraud: But Va. firm stands by work, citing confusion in war-zone contracts]", ''Associated Press'', February 16, 2006.
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* John E. Mulligan, [http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13293 "US: Witness Faults Billing Custer Battles Billing"]  ''Providence Journal'', February 17, 2006.
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* T. Christian Miller, [http://jazzcornertalk.com/speakeasy/showthread.php?t=15253 "U.S. Contractor Found Liable for Fraud in Iraq"],  ''Los Angeles Times'', March 10, 2006. (Scroll down.
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* Erik Eckholm, [http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13377 "US: Contractor Found Guilty of $3 Million Fraud in Iraq"], ''New York Times'', March 10, 2006.
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*David Phinney, "[http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13379 Custer Battles Royale]", ''Corpwatch'', March 10th, 2006.
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* David Phinney, "[http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13380 ABCs of the Custer Battles Scandal]", ''Corpwatch'', March 10th, 2006.
  
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*[http://www.custerbattles.com/index2.html Custer Battles, LLC], viewed April 9, 2004.
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* Yochi J. Dreazen, "[http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06171/699706-28.stm Employees of contractor barred from Iraq resurrect business]", ''Wall Street Journal'', June 20, 2006.
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*"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3614697.stm Security worker killed in Iraq]", BBC News, April 9, 2004, viewed April 9, 2004.
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*Eric Eckholm, [http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/19/africa/web.0819reconstruct.php "Judge Sets Aside Verdict of Corporate Fraud in Iraq"], ''New York Times'', August 18, 2006.
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*[http://www.alicp.com/ ALI Capital Partners]
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*Dana Hedgepeth, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/08/AR2007020801871.html "Judge Clears Contractor of Fraud in Iraq"], ''Washington Post'', February 8, 2007.
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*"[http://www.alicp.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=363 Job seekers beware of Custer Battles LLC Security]", Forum topic, ALI Capital partners website, viewed April 9, 2004.
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*[http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070208-105824-4456r.htm "Military Contractor Exonerated"], ''[[Washington Times]]'', February 9, 2007.
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*[http://www.alexanderlaw.com/ Alexanter, Hawes & Audet, LLP]
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*John Mulligan, [http://www.projo.com/news/johnmulligan/custer_battles_02-22-07_JJ4H5SB.1170163.html "Cleared of war profiteering, he fights to restore honor"], ''Providence Journal'', February 22, 2007.
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[[Category:Private military corporations]]

Latest revision as of 00:12, 11 August 2008

Custer Battles, LLC is a security company based in McLean, Virginia, that promotes its services as including "security services", "litigation support", "global risk consulting", "training" and "business intelligence".

Background

The company's founders are Scott Custer, a former US Army officer 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. [1] Both Custer and Battles are often described in the media as "former US Army Rangers." In fact, they are both mere graduates of the US Army Ranger course[2], a nine week US Army leadership school, and not former members of the US Army Ranger Regiment[3]. The distinction may seem obscure, but it is an important one for US Army veterans, particularly veterans of the Ranger Regiment, which is one of the US Army's most elite formations.

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. [4]

On July 1, 2003, the company announced that it would "bring its security training expertise to the State of Maine." [5]

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." [6]

A litany of complaints against Custer Battles can be found in the Forum section of ALI Capital Partners.[7]

Custer Battles is currently banned from further Department of Defense contracting.[8] 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 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.

Former executives keep working

Business Week reported on June 12, 2005 that former operations chief for Custer Battles, Rob Roy Trumble, has formed new companies to bid on contracts in Iraq. Two of Trumbles new companies, Emergent Business Services and Tarheel Training LLC are housed in the fromer office of Custer Battles at Suite 100 on Hammerlund Way in Middletown Rhode Island.

Interestingly enough, Rob Roy Trumble is a bona fide former member of the Ranger Regiment. Mr. Trumble served as a platoon leader in the 3d Ranger Battalion, and participated in Operation Just Cause, the invasion of Panamá.

Both companies are affiliated with the Romanian company, Danubia Global Inc. which is owned by Security Ventures International Ltd., a British Virgin Islands firm.

Said former CPA official, Franklin Willis, about Trumble's new companies, "They're like mushrooms, they just keep sprouting up."

In addition, former chief financial officer Joseph Morris, who had submitted fake invoices to the government which resulted in a suspension forbidding him from receiving "new public contracts in Iraq and elsewhere", has been working on reconstruction projects for Sallyport Global Holdings. Upon seeing Morris' name on the suspension list, Sallyport has said they will not renew his contract. Morris had claimed he has been exonerated for acting as a federal witness.

Morris, like Trumble, was a West Point classmate of both Custer and Battles, as were many other managers within the firm.

Guilty

On March 9th, 2006, a federal jury in Virginia found Scott Custer, Michael Battles and Joseph Morris "guilty of defrauding the United States by filing grossly inflated invoices for work in the chaotic year after the Iraqi invasion."

The trial dealt with only one of several CusterBattles' contracts and the jury found that the entire $3 million in the contract had been "gained by fraud". The defendants will have to "repay the government triple damages and also pay fines for 37 fraudulent acts" in what will amount to over $10 million. [9]


Contact Information

Custer Battles head office
55 Hammarlund Way
Suite 100
Middletown, RI 02842, USA
Telephone: (401) 848-7500
Fax:(401) 848-7505


Custer Battles Washington
8201 Greensboro Drive
Suite 214
McLean, VA 22102
Email: info AT custerbattles.com

Web: http://www.custerbattles.com

SourceWatch Resources

External links

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