Investigations

On July 7, 2022, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut entered into a civil settlement agreement with McClain & Company, Inc. McClain agreed to pay $137,500 to resolve False Claims Act allegations. McClain provided under bridge inspection (UBI) vehicles to various State departments of transportation, including Connecticut Department of Transportation, which leased McClain UBI vehicles for bridge inspections funded by a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) grant. According to the settlement agreement, between January 2012 and January 2015, McClain paid a third party to create 123 certificates of inspection falsely certifying that this third party had inspected McClain's UBI vehicles when, in fact, McClain knew the vehicles had not been inspected.

 

On August 26, 2015, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) opened a workplace fatality investigation into the death of a McClain UBI vehicle operator in Connecticut. McClain sent OSHA false certificates of inspection for the UBI vehicle involved in the fatality. The settlement agreement is neither an admission of liability by McClain nor a concession by the United States that its claims were not well founded.

 

DOT-OIG and the Department of Labor OIG conducted this investigation with the assistance of FHWA.