Blackwater accused of charging US government for payments to prostitute

WASHINGTON - Troubled American private security company Blackwater is in the midst of a fresh controversy after two former employees accused it of repeatedly billing the U.S. Government for excessive or inappropriate expenses for a Filipina prostitute on its payroll in Afghanistan.

In a federal lawsuit filed in Virginia, Melan Davis said she found that a prostitute in Afghanistan had been placed on Blackwater’s payroll under the “Morale Welfare Recreation” category.

Melan further said the company, which allegedly employed her in Kabul, billed the government for her plane tickets and monthly salary, The Guardian reports.

The latest accusations are contained in court records that have been recently unsealed and reveal details of a lawsuit by Davis and her husband, Brad, who both worked for Blackwater.

Blackwater, renamed Xe last year apparently due to the bad publicity attached to its original name, is among the biggest private security firms employed by the government in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The lawsuit filed in 2008 by Davis and her husband, Brad, was recently unsealed after the Justice Department passed on the case.

Melan, who was fired from the company and is challenging her dismissal, said she also helped with record-keeping for Blackwater’s response in Louisiana to Hurricane Katrina.

Among other charges of excessive billing there, Melan said two workers paid a vendor for “cleaning services”, but the vendor would instead provide strippers. (ANI)