A US contractor here has been ordered to pay a hefty fine of USD 3.1 million dollars for illegally outsourcing government-funded work to a subcontractor based in India.
Focused Technologies Imaging Services, its sole owner Charles Tobin and former co-owner Julie Benware agreed to pay the penalty and fees under an agreement with New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman after admitting that they violated New York federal laws by illegally outsourcing the work to a subcontractor based in Mumbai in 2008 and 2009.
Authorities said the Indian company, which was unaware it had got the work illegally, fully and voluntarily cooperated with the investigation.
The agreement arises from a USD 3.45 million contract in 2008-09 between the New York State Industries for the Disabled (NYSID) and the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), to digitise and index approximately 22 million fingerprint cards into a searchable database.
The cards contained critical personal data including Social Security numbers, date of birth and basic physical characteristics.
