Booz Allen Hamilton under federal investigation over billing irregularities, contractor says

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the government’s largest intelligence and defense contractors, over possible billing irregularities, the consulting firm said Thursday.

Booz Allen was notified of the probe earlier this month and is working to resolve the matter with federal investigators, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday afternoon.

The Justice Department is currently conducting a civil and criminal investigation concerning “certain elements of the company’s cost accounting and indirect cost charging practices with the U.S. government,” the filing said.

“To date, our internal and external audit processes have not identified any significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, or identified any significant erroneous cost charging,” wrote Nancy Laben, Booz Allen’s executive vice president and chief legal officer.

Booz Allen “is cooperating with the government in these matters and expects to bring them to an appropriate resolution,” she added.

A spokesperson for the firm declined to discuss the matter beyond Thursday’s filing, and the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.

Booz Allen’s stock value plummeted by more than 13 percent in after-hours trading shortly after Thursday’s announcement and were down by about 19 percent as of early Friday afternoon.

Founded in 1914, Booz Allen reported an annual revenue of about $5.28 billion fiscal year 2015. All but 3 percent of its revenue last year resulted from contracts with the U.S. government, CNBC reported.