Gordon v. ArmorGroup at first glance

Read WashingtonPost article here.

At its heart, this case is nothing more than an employment dispute.  The bulk of the sixty-six page complaint alleges a multitude of violations by the various defendants.  It ambitiously inventories an impressive array of international legal and human rights transgressions by invoking the False Claims Act (FCA), the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), prohibitions against human trafficking, obstruction of justice, fair labor practices, lying to government personnel, lying to Congress, breach of contract, and so on.  One is led to wonder why this is not a sealed complaint under the Qui Tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  After all, if the allegations are true, it would seem that the U.S. government is the true victim and Mr. Gordon would therefore have no legal standing to sue outside of the "whistleblower" (Qui Tam) provisions of the FCA. 

It is not until page 56 that the complaint begins detailing the real causes of actions:  unlawful retaliation against Gordon's "whistleblowing," tortious interference with contractual relations, wrongful discharge in violation of public policy, and common law conspiracy.  Now, I may not be a tort lawyer but it occurred to me that one (or two) of the counts appear to be a rather "novel" application of the law.  While it's certainly understandable why Gordon's lawyers had to "go there" with regards to the more serious allegations, it does seem like a huge tease to raise, but not follow through with, a False Claims Act suit.

A possible answer is that Qui Tam action under the FCA is required to be filed under seal (in total secrecy).  Perhaps Mr. Gordon's legal team made the tactical election to drop this case before the dust settled from the POGO letter to Mrs. Clinton (with its lurid photographs).  Perhaps settlement talks between ArmorGroup and Mr. Gordon broke down and the window to capitalize on the public's 15 minutes of outrage was closing.

In any case, if there is any merit whatsoever to Mr. Gordon's underlying allegations, we should hope to see DOJ following up with civil if not criminal actions against ArmorGroup and their personnel.  Of course, this development, if it were to happen, would beg the question of where the adult supervision (aka contract oversight) over these "lost boys" was all along.  All this, if true, stems from poor oversight, outright incompetence, and a complete abdication of responsibility by the government personnel involved.   

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