August 16, 2007 — IBM Corporation and PriceWaterhouseCoopers IBM Corporation and PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) have agreed to pay $5.2 Million to settle qui tam claims filed by private relators, Norman J. Rille and Neil A. Roberts. The allegations asserted by Mr. Rille and Mr. Roberts, were that IBM and PWC knowingly solicited and/or made payments of money, and other things of value, to a number of other companies, and that the payments constituted illegal “kickbacks” which were in violation of Federal regulations. The actions against IBM and PWC are part of a larger ongoing investigation of Government technology vendors and consultants that has already resulted in complaints being filed in April 2007 in Arkansas against Accenture, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems. As a result of having filed a qui tam action to expose these allegations, Mr. Rille and Mr. Roberts are expected to receive up to $1.3 Million, as a reward. See USNewswire Release 8/16/07 |