University Defrauded U.S. on Quake Repairs, Architect Charges

A former architect at Cal State Northridge has alleged in two lawsuits that the university defrauded the Federal Emergency Management Agency out of millions of dollars billed for earthquake repairs.

A. Amir Ali, who was fired after seven months on the job and now works for FEMA, said in a federal lawsuit unsealed this week that the university billed the government for construction jobs that were not earthquake-related, including a $1-million-plus project to add sprinkler systems to 10 buildings.

In addition, Ali alleged, the university ignored his warnings that contractors were inflating their bids. He said one major contractor refused to accept competitive bids from subcontractors for expensive flooring work for 15 buildings and instead gave the work to a friend.

“CSUN has falsified a number of documents, including claims to the United States government and FEMA,” Ali said in court papers.

Cal State Northridge President Blenda Wilson is out of the country and was unavailable for comment. But earthquake damage consultant Charles Thiel, who chairs the Seismic Safety Board for the California State University system and was in charge of enforcing state building codes at the school during earthquake recovery, disputed many of Ali’s claims.

For example, he said, FEMA knew all along that the 10 buildings did not have sprinkler systems before the quake. State law, he said, required them to be rebuilt to current specifications.

Ali’s assertions, Thiel said, “are all wrong.”

FEMA declined to comment about specific allegations, citing a policy of not speaking about pending litigation or investigations. “Naturally, FEMA is always interested in seeing that fraud against the government be exposed and dealt with,” said spokesman John Treanor. Treanor confirmed that Ali now is a contract employee of the agency, but did not say what his job is.

Ali also has a pending wrongful termination suit against the university. In court papers, he says he was fired in September 1994 by Bill Chatham--the embattled former school administrator who with his wife, Jane, was in charge of overseeing earthquake repairs--for complaining about irregularities. The couple, who have since resigned, were publicly censured by Wilson after disclosures in The Times that earthquake repair contractors had done work on their Northridge home.

Bill Chatham declined to comment on the new allegations.

One of the suits was filed under the so-called whistle-blower law, which allows people who can prove a company or agency filed false claims against the government to keep part of the money, if it is recovered. It names as defendants the university and the Chathams.

Ali does not specify the total amount allegedly overbilled, but his attorney, Brian Brown of Tustin, said it was between $3 million and $5 million.

In his wrongful-termination suit, Ali said he oversaw the submission of so-called field instructions, or documents asking for extra reimbursement for unforeseen work or work unrelated to the earthquake. He was also responsible for monitoring the work on certain campus facilities.

In late May 1994, the suit says, he began to believe that “certain contractors were doing work which . . . Bill Chatham and Jane Chatham were characterizing as eligible for reimbursement by FEMA as earthquake-related repairs, but which were not in fact earthquake-related.”