The U.S. Department of Justice shared March 9 that seven wholesale steel distributors under the Allied Crawford banner have agreed to pay more than $3.3 million to settle civil False Claims Act (FCA) allegations stemming from Paycheck Protection Program loan applications.

The DoJ said that the distributors are incorporated in seven states, with Virginia the only one named, and that each company falsely certified it was eligible to receive the PPP loans and have them forgiven.

Those Allied firms allegedly received loans of more than $2.7 million combined, which were later forgiven between February 2021 and October 2021.

The settlement revolves a lawsuit, United States ex rel. GNGH2, Inc. v. Allied Crawford (Petersburg), Inc., which was filed under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, which permits private parties to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims presented to the federal government and share in a portion of the government’s recovery. 

The whistleblower will receive a 10% share of the settlement, the DoJ said.

The matter was investigated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McIntosh on behalf of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the U.S. Small Business Administration.