When Democratic presidential appointees at Treasury and IRS terminated The Writing Company’s (TWC) federal contract so they could pass it to their non-minority associate, TWC turned to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) Public Corruption Unit for help. Rather than investigating TWC’s allegations of contract improprieties, allegedly the DOJ joined the coverup and helped conceal the theft of a Black firm’s multi-million dollar contract and confidential work processes. According to Jerroll M. Sanders, President and CEO of now-defunct TWC, federal officials have gone to unimaginable lengths to prevent TWC from exposing contract improprieties by Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials.
Sanders says when she challenged the improper termination of her firm’s IRS contract, officials began attacking TWC financially. “IRS suspended payments on pipeline invoices despite its 15-day remittance agreement with TWC; refused to pay $300,000 owed TWC in invoice settlement funds; contrived tax debts so it could snatch funds from Sanders’ and her minor children’s bank accounts; and burdened TWC with multiple financial audits and unwarranted investigations,” Sanders adds. With TWC reeling from officials’ financial assaults, the IRS and Treasury inspector generals began secretly sullying TWC’s good name by generating documents that disparaged TWC’s nearly flawless performance, states Sanders. “Officials had a twofold use for the falsified documents,” Sanders explains: First, they used the documents to prevent TWC from securing other federal contracts that would have enabled TWC to recover financially, and second, they used the documents to convince congressional leaders that TWC’s allegations of contract fraud were not credible, Sanders adds.
A legal strategy document TWC was never meant to see attests to the coverup tactics deployed by federal officials, Sanders states. One document, directed to Assistant Attorney General Peter D. Keisler by the IRS inspector general, falsely alleges TWC inflated wage rates, colluded with IRS contracting officers to acquire the Notice Redesign Contract, and submitted false billing. Sanders says the documents also states that “A Grand Jury subpoena was issued to Sanders and subsequently withdrawn by Federal Attorney Michael K. Fagan… due to inability to establish criminal intent.” Sanders says Fagan’s decision to not indict had nothing to do with DOJ’s inability to establish criminal intent but with the fact there was no wrongdoing on TWC’s part.
The IRS inspector general produced another document to sully TWC’s performance, Sanders states. A report titled Increased Management Attention Is Needed to Ensure the Success of Future Redesign Efforts claims TWC’s IRS contract was plagued by project management problems. Sanders—the IRS Notice Redesign Project Manager—says the only project management problem TWC encountered was nonstop interference from Treasury officials who wanted their non-minority associate to have TWC’s contract.
The Notice Redesign Contract was one of the most important presidential-level contracts ever secured by a Black Contractor, according to Sanders. She states that TWC’s outstanding performance on the contract confronts the belief that Black firms cannot perform successfully on mega federal contracts. She says it is time Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray disclose to the American public the truth about the Notice Redesign Contract termination, the subsequent award to Kleimann Communications Group (KCG), and the manner in which federal officials used millions of taxpayer dollars to conceal their improprieties. Sanders says she invites anyone who wants to know more about her contract encounter to watch My Empty Chair: The Jerroll Sanders Story on YouTube.
This news first appeared on Blacknews.com