A farm business called Dowson Farms will pau $5.4 million to Uncle Sam to resolve claims that it created a fake partnership to evade limits on federal farm subsidies.
The allegations were that the company’s owners violated the False Claims Act by making false partnerships in the names of employees and falsely claimed that those partnerships were actively engaged in farming that was separate and distinct from the Dowson Farms organization. As a result, the Government says that Downson received farm subsidies to which they were not authorized.
Congress has set an annual limit for each qualified participant in the subsidies program. The law allows an individual to receive payments on up to three entities.
Jeffrey Newman represents whistleblowers
