A Storrs company and several of its employees have agreed to a $400,000 settlement with the federal government over allegations they violated federal laws in the management of grants it was awarded.
Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Allison C. Lerner, Inspector General of the National Science Foundation (NSF), today announced that Aquatic Sensor Network Technology, also known as Aquasent, and several of its officials and employees, namely Jun-Hong Cui, Yong Ma, Shengli Zhou, Zhijie Shi, and Juanjuan Liao, have entered into a civil settlement agreement with the government.
The company and the named officials will pay $400,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the federal False Claims Act and the common law in the management of federally-funded grants awarded by the NSF.
Three UConn faculty members are principals of that company. According to university spokesperson, the civil settlement agreement involves their activities in the private company, not as UConn employees. UConn is not and has never been the target of the NSF investigation, and the University cooperated fully in the investigation, she said.
Aquasent was formed in Oct. 2007 with a focus on the development of underwater wireless communications and networking solutions. Since 2008, Aquasent has received approximately $924,618 through federally-funded grants under the NSF’s small business innovation research (SBIR) Program. The NSF alleges Aquasent made a pattern of misrepresentations to receive the funding.
Daly noted that Aquasent cooperated with the government’s investigation. The False Claims Act allows for penalties of up to $5,500 to $11,000 per false claim submitted to the government.
