

Oracle sued for alleged fraud against US gov - gaius
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/17/oracle_sued_by_us_gov/

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xenophanes
Price discrimination is not fraud.

Selling you X widgets for Y dollars -- we both agree to those amounts -- is
not fraud. And it's still not fraud no matter what I sold widgets to someone
else for. It's just a negotiated, voluntary contract.

Offering discounts to one guy and not another? Not fraud. Just a style of
capitalism some people get offended by (hence one might want to not mention
it).

The US Government being a chump that's bad at negotiating to get stuff
cheaply? Not fraud (excepting politicians who made campaign promises to do
better with no reasonable expectation of being able to do better ;)

~~~
percept
There was a similar case last year (they settled):

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2009/04...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2009/04/14/AR2009041403007.html)

"GSA contract guidelines require companies to provide the government with
accurate information about the discounts they offer to non-government
commercial customers, helping the GSA to negotiate its best price."

~~~
greyboy
Here's an interesting tidbit I wasn't previously aware of:

    
    
      "Mr. Kapuscinski is an amazingly courageous man," McKnight
      said, according to the law firm's news release. "He saw a
      company program out of sync with designated federal 
      guidelines and decided to make it right."
    
      He is also much richer. Under the False Claims Act, a 
      whistleblower who files a fraud complaint on behalf of the 
      government can share in the recovery. Kapuscinski will 
      receive a 15 percent share, or $19.2 million, according to 
      the law firm.

