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Combs
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stories detailing the charges of a sealed federal lawsuit. In the documents, according to the AP reporter who headlined the story as an exclusive based on an obtained copy of the charges, “two former Pentagon officials... have been accused of scheming with a banned American contractor to get lucrative rebuilding contracts in Iraq,” wrote Deborah Hastings on July 21.
Those two Pentagon officials, the story continued, were Combs, who was listed as a former acting U.S. Navy undersecretary, and Hansford Johnson, a former acting Navy secretary.
The banned American company, the story continued, was Custer Battles LLC, a firm that was suspended from business in Iraq two years ago by the military after a federal court found it had padded government contracts for substantial profit. The owners of Custer Battles, Scott Custer and Mike Battles, are also named in the current lawsuit.
Interesting to note, a prior case against Custer Battles was also brought by whistleblowers — one of whom is reportedly the same bringing charges yet again - and resulted in a multi-million dollar judgment against the company. That fine, which gives some of the money to the whistleblowers, has still not been paid, according to a Washington Post report published last week.
Phones at Custer Battles’ office in Virginia have been disconnected, and firm owners could not be contacted for comment about either suit.
“The new lawsuit contends Custer and Battles, both Army veterans with Washington political connections, tried to- get around the suspension order by plotting with Johnson and Combs to ‘set up sham companies (thereby) concealing their ownership and control of those entities’ ... (and) the shell companies committed other illegal acts, including selling weapons on the Iraqi black market,” Hastings writes in her AP report, quoting portions of the court documents.
One of those alleged companies with ties to Custer Battles and the charges of fraud and conspiracy is Combs’ Windmill International, the AP reports.
However, without access to the actual court documents, which are sealed because they
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