Suit: Blackwater Charged US for Strippers, Payroll Hooker

Ex-workers accuse company of massive fraud
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 12, 2010 2:11 AM CST
Suit: Blackwater Charged US for Strippers, Payroll Hooker
"The allegations are without merit and the company will vigorously defend against this lawsuit," said a Blackwater spokesman.   (AP Photo/Karen Tam, File)

Controversial private security firm Blackwater Worldwide scammed the US for millions through overbilling, including charges for alcohol, strippers and a hooker on a monthly payroll, according to a lawsuit filed by two ex-employees. The company hired a prostitute to pleasure male employees in Kabul and sent the bill to Uncle Sam under the expense heading "morale welfare recreation," according to former staffers Brad and Melan Davis. Taxpayers were charged for the Filipina prostitute's plane tickets and monthly salary, they say.

The company hired strippers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and listed them as cleaners in invoices, the Guardian reports. Melan Davis says she was fired after voicing her concerns. Her husband, an ex-Marine who resigned from the company, says he witnessed multiple uses of excessive force by Blackwater employees in Iraq. Blackwater denies the accusations. Federal authorities are probing the alleged overbilling, a source tells AP.
(More Blackwater stories.)

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