Leo Burnett Chicago is going to paying the U.S. Army a whopping $15.5 million as settlement for a lawsuit alleging that the agency over-billed the Army.

The announcement came via the Justice Department, and an accompanying article on Chicago Breaking News that states, "The allegations surrounded Burnett's work on its "Army of One" recruiting campaign. The suit charged that Burnett unfairly increased its profit by billing for services of its own units as if they were independent contractors and inflating subcontractors' hourly rates."

Oh damn! Mothas were raising their rates thinking they could go all Halliburton but then the Army was like, "no way, bitch" and that was that. LB settled "to avoid the expense and uncertainty of litigation." You mean, they settled because they knew they had been caught red handed. Two staffers apparently blew the whistle on the agency in the first place. According to a press release those two employees, now removed VP Greg Hamilton and controller, Michelle Casey, will be taking home almost $3M of that settlement money.

Right now you're thinking - "I should blow the whistle on my agency. I could be set for life." Something to consider as you head home today, no?

A tipster tells us: "The whistleblowers both worked in finance at Burnett and where privy to all the information. After being fired they filed suit. One was also involved in an affair with the CFO."

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