SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah is seeking to settle a lawsuit alleging millions of dollars in grant fraud involving numerous public safety agencies and officials.
Senate Joint Resolution 7 was filed in the legislature to settle a long-running lawsuit that FOX 13 News first reported on in 2019, when we discovered federal authorities were fighting with the state over subpoenas to the Utah Attorney General's Office, the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts and the Utah Department of Public Safety. The lawsuit alleges that top Utah public safety officials bilked the federal government out of millions of taxpayer dollars handed out in grants by falsely claiming job losses and budget cuts from 2009 to 2015.
The lawsuit has its roots in a complaint leveled by a Utah State Prison inmate. Reginald Williams claims he uncovered evidence of the fraud while working in the prison print shop. He lawyered up and began cooperating with the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Justice then leveled a lawsuit against the state of Utah alleging as much as $50 million in grant fraud. The Utah Attorney General's Office has claimed the dollar figure in question is closer to $10 million.
The case has been in settlement talks for more than a year. According to SJR7, the state will pay the federal government $1.5 million to resolve the claims. The Utah Attorney General's Office declined to comment on the resolution beyond confirming a settlement had been reached.
"There’s a lot of legal things that hit the state of Utah on a regular basis and I think if I look back on our track record it’s very, very good," Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, the Utah State Senate's budget chief, told FOX 13 News. "But every once in a while, you have one slip through the cracks or sometimes it becomes easier to settle rather than fight."
Under Utah law, any settlement over $1 million must be approved by the full Utah State Legislature because it involves taxpayer dollars.
