United States of America v. Speridian Technologies LLC, BenefitAlign, LLC, Xelleration LLC, TrueCoverage LLC, Business Advantage Consulting Inc., and Helix Business Solutions LLC (Speridian Group)

Tulsa, Oklahoma, qui tam lawyers represented the United States of America on a False Claims Act violation.

Under the Federal False Claims Act, private individuals act as qui tam, “whistleblowers,” and may bring lawsuits against entities that have committed fraud against the government. A qui tam Civil Complaint was filed by GNGH2, Inc. in December 2024, alleging that Speridian Technologies LLC, BenefitAlign, LLC, Xelleration LLC, TrueCoverage LLC, Business Advantage Consulting Inc., and Helix Business Solutions LLC (Speridian Group) violated the False Claims Act. The principal locations for the businesses are Washington, New Mexico, California, and Tennessee. Court documents show that the Speridian Group allegedly employed more than 300 people and provides various IT and internet-based services globally.

The Speridian Group companies each sought a second round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans under the CARES Act in 2021 and 2022. Collectively, the companies within Speridian Group received $4,896,758.73 in loans processed by BOK Financial, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After receiving the funds, they applied for and received forgiveness for each loan.

In the Settlement Agreement, the Speridian Group admitted that they were members of a single corporate group for purposes of determining PPP loan eligibility and exceeded the 300-employee threshold. As a result, they received a second PPP loan that was forgiven, even though they were not eligible.

Settled for $7 million. To resolve the civil claims against it, the Speridian Group agreed to pay the United States $7,000,000, of which $5,101,881.63 is restitution. After the restitution is paid to the Small Business Administration, the United States will pay GNGH2, Inc. $700,000 as its statutory share under the False Claims Act for bringing the suit.