(LEGAFI) -- A whistleblower lawsuit against the security firm once known as Blackwater is heading to trial in Virginia.

Former Blackwater employees Brad and Melan Davis allege in the whistleblower lawsuit that the company, which now operates under the name Xe Services, overbilled the federal government on its $1 billion contract for security work in Iraq and Afghanistan and submitted phony reimbursements and other bogus expenses.

 

An attorney for the Blackwater whistleblowers told a jury in Alexandria federal court that Blackwater employees falsified records of how many workers were actually provided security services in those countries at any given time, and also submitted inflated reimbursement amounts for travel. Court papers allege Blackwater overbilled the government by more than $123 million in these bogus labor and travel expenses.

 

Ms. Davis, who was responsible for gathering travel expenses to submit to the government, said she has direct knowledge of the fraud because she participated in it herself.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled that the $123 million figure could not be divulged to jurors, and also dismissed several of the whistleblower lawsuit’s claims, including allegations that Blackwater billed the government for prostitutes and overbilled on a security contract it was awarded in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, due to lack of evidence.

The Davises’ whistleblower lawsuit is one of several legal skirmishes Blackwater is involved in concerning its government contract work. Another whistleblower lawsuit unsealed this month also accuses Blackwater of overbilling the government for work protecting State Department employees in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jury selection for the Davises’ Blackwater whistleblower lawsuit began last week. If the jury agrees with them, the pair would be eligible to collect a share of any money that the government lost to fraud.