FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

VETERAN BARRY MOORE CONCERNED ABOUT REPORTS OF JEFF COLEMAN’S FRAUD AGAINST D.O.D.,

ABUSE OF MILITARY FAMILIES AND ABILITY TO REPRESENT DISTRICT 2 IN CONGRESS

Enterprise, AL–Barry Moore, Veteran and candidate for Congress in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, today responded to reports that fellow candidate Jeff Coleman’s moving companies were involved in massive fraud by overbilling the Department of Defense for the costs of moving military families to new postings.

Coleman was challenged at the Coffee County Republican Women’s forum on Wednesday, Jan. 15th about his company’s 2015 $5 million settlement of a False Claims Act case filed in 2012.  At that forum, Coleman denied any wrongdoing and blamed the Obama Justice Department. A report by AL.com’s Kyle Whitmire on Jan. 17th revealed that Coleman’s companies were alleged to have defrauded the government by over $700 million and one of his employees was later convicted and sentenced to prison in the case.

Barry Moore said in a statement:

“I’m very concerned about what’s come out about Mr. Coleman’s companies and how they overcharged the Department of Defense for moving our military families.  According to documents I’ve seen, the Justice Department’s investigation found that 80% of the loads Coleman’s companies shipped were overweighted and overbilled by 9%, with an estimated total fraud amount of over $700 million dollars.

“As United States Attorney Bill Nettles said about the 2015 settlement, the money paid to Coleman’s companies for inflated weights could have been used for the benefit of our service members.  Compared to estimates of the total cost of this fraud to the DoD and U.S. taxpayers, a $5 million settlement seems like a slap on the wrist.

“I’m even more concerned that Mr. Coleman has already come out and said he’d recuse himself from any votes in Congress that would be a conflict of interest with his businesses.  With two military bases, several National Guard armories, and thousands of active duty military and Veterans living in District 2, I can’t see how he can hope to adequately represent this District in any meaningful way, especially since 95% of his business comes from the DoD.

“Others have called for him to withdraw from the race.  I’m not willing to go that far right now, because as a candidate in this race that would be a conflict of interest for me.  I do urge him to strongly think about where he goes from here, and hope that the voters will think about this on election day.”

Barry Moore will be on the ballot in the Republican primary on March 3rd.  For more information, go to BarryMooreForCongress.com or on Facebook @BarryMooreForCongress.

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Barry Moore for US Congress

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