## Facts

- Alvin Michael Maher was a corporate officer of General Environments Corporation (GEC), which performed experimental testing under government and commercial contracts.
- GEC held several “time-and-materials” contracts with a Department of the Army entity, under which the government paid based on reported labor hours and materials.
- The government’s evidence showed Maher directed GEC’s bookkeeper to alter billing vouchers so they reflected more labor hours than employees’ time sheets supported.
- The altered vouchers were submitted for government payment and allegedly caused approximately $68,000 in overbilling beyond amounts due under the contracts.
- At trial, Maher conceded he directed submission of the disputed claims but asserted he lacked a purpose to defraud; he characterized the practice as a business-driven reallocation of hours intended to reduce project delays tied to funding limitations.

## Issues

1. Whether 18 U.S.C. § 287 requires proof of a “specific intent to defraud the government,” or whether it is enough that the defendant knowingly caused false claims to be submitted with intent to do an illegal act or with awareness the conduct was wrong.
2. Whether the district court’s jury instructions on mens rea correctly stated the law and adequately addressed Maher’s defense theory.

## Decision

- The Fourth Circuit affirmed Maher’s convictions on eleven counts under 18 U.S.C. § 287.
- The court held § 287 does not require a heightened, separate “specific intent to defraud” in the sense of a purpose to cheat the government.
- The court approved jury instructions requiring proof that Maher knowingly caused false, fictitious, or fraudulent claims to be submitted and did so with specific intent to violate the law or with consciousness that what he was doing was wrong.
- The court upheld the district court’s refusal to give Maher’s proposed instruction that would have required proof of a specific intent to defraud the United States.

## Legal Principles

- Under 18 U.S.C. § 287, the government must prove: (1) the defendant made or caused a claim to be presented to the United States or its agencies, (2) the claim was false, fictitious, or fraudulent, and (3) the defendant knew of the falsity when the claim was submitted.
- The mens rea element is satisfied by knowing submission of a false claim coupled with intent to do an illegal act or awareness that the conduct is wrong; a separate, freestanding “specific intent to defraud” is not required.
- A business or administrative rationale for submitting claims that knowingly misstate underlying facts does not negate liability where the defendant knows the representations to the government are false and wrongful.
- On review of challenged instructions, the question is whether the charge, viewed as a whole, correctly states the law and fairly presents the defense theory.

## Conclusion

The Fourth Circuit upheld Maher’s false-claims convictions, concluding that § 287 focuses on knowing submission of false claims with awareness of wrongdoing, and that the jury was properly instructed even without an express requirement that Maher specifically intended to defraud the government.


United States v. Maher, 582 F.2d 842 (4th Cir. 1978)