WASHINGTON D.C.
United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) has agreed to pay approximately $5.3 million to resolve its potential liability for falsely reporting delivery of U.S. mail on international deliveries, officials announced this week.
UPS is an international package delivery company incorporated in Delaware with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
This is the fifth civil settlement involving air carrier liability for false delivery scans under the USPS International Commercial Air Contracts, and collectively the United States has recovered more than $70 million as a result of its investigation of such misconduct, according to officials
According to the federal officials, USPS contracted with UPS to pick up U.S. mail at six locations in the U.S. and at various Department of Defense and State Department locations abroad.
To obtain payment under the contracts, UPS was required to submit electronic scans to USPS reporting the time the mail was delivered at the identified destinations.
The contracts specified penalties for mail that was delivered late or to the wrong location.
The settlement resolves allegations that scans submitted by UPS falsely reported the time and fact that it transferred possession of the mail.
“Companies doing business with the government must meet their contractual obligations,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
“The USPS contracts with commercial airlines for the safeguarding and timely delivery of U.S. mail to foreign posts, including the mail sent to our soldiers deployed to foreign operating bases,” said Executive Special Agent in Charge Ken Cleevely of the USPS Office of Inspector General.