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$11M Settlement Reached in CA Overbilling Suit

caCA, Inc. has reached an $11-million settlement to resolve claims that the Islandia-based technology company defrauded 179 government agencies in New York, eight states and the federal government, prosecutors said.

CA, formerly known as Computer Associates, double-billed government customers when the entities renewed annual computer-software maintenance and service plans that CA sold from 2001 to 2009, according to the New York State Attorney Genera’s office.

“This agreement reimburses … government entities for years of overcharges,” said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, “money that will go toward valuable services for taxpayers at a time when budgets are stretched thin.”

New York State will receive a total of $708,795, which will be distributed to overcharged government entities, including the MTA, Nassau County, as well as East Williston, Plainview-Old Bethpage and South Country school districts.

Those and other agencies will be reimbursed between $155 and $75,344, by far the largest sum statewide recouped by New York City.

The settlement stemmed from a 2006 lawsuit filed in Central Islip federal court under the False Claims Act by CA whistleblower employee Ann-Marie Shaw, who will receive $141,759, or 20 percent of New York’s recovery.

The fraud began a year after CA founder and New York Islanders owner Charles Wang quit as CEO, a year before he resigned as chairman of the company’s board and in the midst of a tumultuous period for the company when Wang’s successor, Sanjay Kumar, pleaded guilty to securities fraud, for which he’s serving 12 years in prison.

CA, a four-decade-old Fortune 500 company that has about 14,000 employees in more than 100 offices worldwide, reported $4.6 billion in revenue this year.