"The misleading narrative created by these employees needs to be corrected and this lawsuit seeks to hold them accountable for the damage they caused to Sallyport's reputation. Sallyport is a dedicated partner in the fight against terror and operates with transparency, integrity and accountability."

While Sallyport strongly disputed the claims when the article was published, the company undertook a thorough investigation of the accusations and confirmed that claims made by the former employees were inaccurate and misleading. In the wake of this review, Sallyport determined it was necessary to set the record straight about its operations in Balad. The lawsuit provides a detailed and truthful account of the events falsely described by the former employees.

According to the lawsuit, shortly after employees Robert Cole and Kristie King were terminated for inadequate  performance, they made a number of false allegations about Sallyport, including that the company was involved in a sex trafficking ring and had concealed information about security breaches from the U.S. government.

The complaint shows that internal reports by King and Cole contradicted the claims they made in the news article. For example, regarding King and Cole's accusations of prostitution and trafficking at Balad, the lawsuit notes that these employees wrote a report prior to their firing stating that the prostitution allegations were "unfounded" and "rumors."

Another example of the false statements made by one of the employees is the accusation that Sallyport tried to cover up the theft of three large generators at the base. Verbal and written reports made to government representatives about the incident immediately after it occurred clearly establish that it was "openly investigated and reported to the Government." Futhermore, the equipment at issue was stolen from an area of the base that Sallyport did not control and was not assigned to protect.

The lawsuit seeks damages against Cole and King for defamation and breach of contract.

Sallyport is a critical component of U.S. efforts in the war on terror and the fight against ISIS. The company currently has a contract to provide comprehensive life and logistics support, security, construction, and base operation support services at the largest Iraqi Air Base, supporting more than 4,000 resident contractors involved in the Iraqi Air Force F-16 Program.

New management was installed at Sallyport in January 2016 and immediately undertook a review of all policies and procedures at Balad. This review resulted in several changes, including the appointment of high ranking former military professionals to oversee Sallyport operations at Balad, the installation of a Corporate Ethics and Compliance Officer, and the replacement of many managers at the base.

"These enhancements were put in place to prevent the very kinds of allegations that were raised by these employees, not to conceal them. We continue to look for ways to strengthen our internal oversight capacity and regularly advise U.S. government contracting officers of our efforts, including changes in personnel as well as of any incidents that might occur at Balad," Stuckart said.

"Unfortunately, these employees presented a selective narrative when speaking to the media which resulted in the ensuing coverage omitting many key points," Stuckart added. For example:

1. The same employees quoted in the Associated Press story taking issue with how allegations of prostitution were handled signed and submitted a supplemental report last October concluding that these allegations were "UNFOUNDED" and based on rumors and innuendo.  See attached Documents #1 and #2 (names redacted for privacy and security reasons).
2. Sallyport's new management issued a policy expressly banning alcohol and tobacco at Balad. The company has not received any allegation that personnel have violated that new policy.
3. When the company's new management learned that the company's own investigators were supposedly told to shut down their investigation into alcohol and prostitution, the new Corporate Ethics and Compliance Officer instructed the investigators to complete those investigations. The new company management would never shut down an internal investigation into serious allegations like prostitution. As noted above, the renewed inquiry by the former employees handling those inquiries found that the allegations of prostitution were unsubstantiated.
4. An internal investigation into a claim that a vehicle breached the airfield at Balad showed that the breach took place on a service road outside of the airfield, well away from any Iraqi F-16.  Sallyport submitted its investigation report to the Base Commander. See attached Document #3 (names redacted for privacy and security reasons).
5. The article reported on an aircraft being affected in operation, allegedly due to a large amount of smuggled alcohol in water bottles. Standing alone, the allegation that such a large number of water bottles were being smuggled such that it affected the operation of the aircraft is improbable. The company did not receive any reports that an aircraft was compromised.
6. The article blamed the company for failing to prevent the removal of Iraqi-owned generators from a location on the Balad base that Sallyport does not control or is assigned to protect.  The incident was promptly reported to both the Iraqi Base Commander and US government contracting officials. See attached Document #4 (names redacted for privacy and security reasons).
7. Sallyport never instructed the dismissed investigators to keep two sets of books in order to deceive auditors. The investigators were specifically told to continue keeping a log, available to the U.S. government, of every investigation but not to include any attorney-client privilege information on that log – a standard practice. The dismissed investigators incorrectly interpreted this directive as an attempt to deceive the government.

"Sallyport stands by its security procedures and it efforts to help Balad Air Force Base play a significant role in the fight against ISIS. The fact that two former employees gave media interviews providing a factually-incomplete and selective narrative should not be allowed to obscure the vital work of our team at Balad," Stuckart said.

INVESTIGATION DOCUMENTS 

CALL FOR SERVICE INCIDENT REPORT 1 »

CALL FOR SERVICE INCIDENT REPORT 2 »

INVESTIGATION REPORT (traffic accident) »

INVESTIGATION REPORT (generator theft) »