Murky waters

Security contractor Xe, previously known as Blackwater, is accused of overbilling the government for the protection it provided to State Department employees in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a lawsuit unsealed Thursday in Alexandria's U.S. District Court.

The plaintiffs, two former and current employees of the company, accuse Xe of billing the government for sniper services from individuals who were not properly qualified. According to court documents, one individual whom the government paid as a sniper may have sat behind a desk. The company is also accused of charging the government for a marksman who had failed a required drug test.

The whistleblower suit is among several legal battles that the company has fought following its contract work in Iraq and Afghanistan. The company has been trying to rehabilitate its image since a 2007 shooting in Baghdad killed 17 people, outraging the Iraqi government and leading to federal charges against several Blackwater guards. ("Any reasonable person?" 4/6) Those accusations were thrown out after a judge found prosecutors mishandled evidence, but the case was revived by a federal appeals court.

Xe, the plaintiffs and their lawyer all declined to comment.

A similar case filed in 2008 by former Blackwater employees Brad and Melan Davis is scheduled to go to trial this month. The two cases both allege fraud by the company overbilling for its services on the security contract.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Join the conversation on this article.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook today!