New Kent County and Cox Communications Inc. have announced a $34 million public-private partnership to bring internet access via a fiber-optic network to all county residents and businesses.
Work on the first phase is scheduled to begin this month and includes building out service to support 3,000 county residents who don’t currently have broadband access, according to a news release. The estimated completion for the first phase is in 2024, though residents will have access as neighborhoods are completed.
The second phase involves build out of the the fiber-optic network to all remaining county residents and businesses, for a total of 566.7 miles. Completion of the second phase is anticipated by the end of 2026 but residents and businesses will have access as soon as build out of their areas are finished, New Kent spokesperson Krista Eutsey said.
The county is investing $16.1 million, with an additional $17.8 million from Cox.
Expanding broadband is a top priority for county leaders, New Kent County Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas W. Evelyn said in a statement. The 212-square mile county is home to more than 23,000 residents. Between 2010 and 2020, its population grew by almost 5,000 people.
“This is a major step forward and the partnership with Cox will help to ensure that our community thrives well into the future,” Evelyn said.
Cox has begun engineering and design work to start permitting and is working with property owners to gain needed access.
“Connectivity is at the heart of everything we do,” J.D. Myers II, Cox senior vice president and Virginia region manager, said in a statement. “Our team here in Virginia has been focused on providing the most powerful connection — high-speed internet — to communities across our state.”
Cox serves more than 6.5 million homes and businesses across 18 states and is the largest division of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises Inc.
Other areas of the state are gaining faster internet access. In July, Waynesboro-based Lumos announced an $83 million fiber internet expansion in Hampton Roads, and in December 2021, the state invested $722 million in grants to extend broadband access to 70 localities with internet gaps. Then-Gov. Ralph Northam anticipated that 90% of the state would have broadband by 2024.
Falls Church-based federal contractorGeneral Dynamics Information Technology Inc. announced Tuesday that it received a $298 million blanket purchase agreement by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) Case Management Systems Office.
Under the five-year contract, which the AOUSC awarded in May, GDIT will provide application development, solutions architecture, operations and engineering and cybersecurity support services. GDIT will also put in place a development, security and operations approach to speed and secure software delivery, the company said in a news release.
“We have supported AOUSC with advanced technology capabilities and services for more than 25 years, and this contract gives us another opportunity to further advance its mission,” John Ludecke, GDIT’s vice president and general manager of the federal civilian division, said in a statement.
GDIT is a subsidiary of Reston-based Fortune 500 aerospace and defense contractor General Dynamics Corp., an aerospace and defense company that employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and generated $38.5 billion in revenue in 2021.
GDIT has more than 30,000 employees and reported $8.5 billion in 2021 revenue.
After a two-year investigation, ongoing federal scrutiny and numerous lawsuits, Juul Labs Inc. tentatively settled with Virginia, 32 other states and Puerto Rico for $438.5 million on Tuesday.
Virginia will receive $16.61 million over the next six to 10 years, state Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Tuesday, but the larger impact may be on Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc., which has a 35% ownership of Juul, based in Washington, D.C.
In 2018, Altria invested $12.8 billion in Juul, which was then dominating the vape market. By late 2019, the company’s fortunes plummeted, with California’s attorney general suing the company for illegally marketing e-cigarettes to underage consumers. Fruit- and candy-flavored nicotine products, as well as a sleek, flash drive-mimicking tool, were part of their appeal to teens, numerous plaintiffs — including states joining California’s lawsuit — argued.
Juul has settled several lawsuits since 2021, including $87 million in settlements with four other states, but there are still thousands of other lawsuits pending. In late August, U.S. District Judge David J. Novak of the Eastern District of Virginia declined to approve a proposed $117 million settlement between Altria and shareholders in a lawsuit over its investment in Juul. Novak called the deal “inadequate.”
Altria’s investment in Juul has fallen to a worth of $450 million as of June 30, but the company has not yet sought to be released from its noncompete agreement. Its deal with Juul included an option to leave if its initial investment fell below 10% of its original value, i.e. $1.28 billion.
In Tuesday’s settlement, Juul agreed to not depict people under 35 in its marketing, use paid influencers, offer free samples, sell flavors not approved by the FDA or allow access to websites without age verification, among other mandates.
“Youth vaping is an epidemic, and from the get-go Juul has been a leader in the e-cigarette industry,” Miyares said in a statement. “But Juul targeted young people with deceptive social media advertising campaigns and misled the public about the product’s dangers. My office will continue to go after and hold accountable companies that market addictive products like e-cigarettes to minors, with no concern for their health or well-being.”
The FDA also has taken direct aim at Juul’s right to sell any of its products in the United States, saying in June it plans to ban vaping products but pedaling back the decision in July, when the agency said it needed to further review studies comparing e-cigarettes with conventional cigarettes,.
Altria officials have consistently maintained that Juul and other new tobacco products serve a purpose in helping long-term smokers quit cigarettes.
In his July 28 earnings announcement, Altria CEO Billy Gifford said, “The FDA has the opportunity to create a mature, regulated marketplace of smoke-free products that can successfully realize tobacco-harm reduction and improve the lives of millions of adult smokers. … We continue to believe that harm reduction, not prohibition, is the best path forward.”
Tuesday’s agreement also includes restrictions on sales and distribution, including where the product may be displayed and accessed in stores, limits on online and retail sales, age verification on all sales, and a retail compliance check protocol.
Juul released a statement on its website Tuesday calling the settlement “a significant part of our ongoing commitment to resolve issues from the past.”
“The terms of the agreement are aligned with our current business practices which we started to implement after our company-wide reset in the fall of 2019,” the company said. “With today’s announcement, we have settled with 37 states and Puerto Rico, and appreciate efforts by Attorneys General to deploy resources to combat underage use.”
Maximus Inc. won an up to $6.6 billion contract for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for contact center operations, the Tysons-based federal contractor announced Thursday.
Under the contract, which has a one-year base period and nine one-year options, Maximus will continue supporting CMS’ contact center. The contact center operations contract handles more 35 million customer inquiries a year for CMS programs like 1-800 MEDICARE and the health insurance marketplace across a range of channels, from telephone and fax to email and web chat, according to a news release.
“This award reflects the commitment of thousands of Maximus employees who each day provide exceptional service to their fellow citizens,” Maximus President and CEO Bruce Caswell said in a statement. “Over the years, CMS has shaped this program to become the trusted source of information and assistance for Americans seeking to better understand their health care benefits. Going forward, this contract will allow our employees to continue providing the best customer experience to the American public.”
Maximus has been the prime contractor for the 1-800 MEDICARE and health insurance marketplace contact centers since 2018 and has supported CMS contact centers for more than a decade, starting as a subcontractor to Reston-based General Dynamics Corp. The company operates 84 contact centers in 28 states and employs more than 20,000 contact center agents. It handles more than 100 million contacts per year, according to a CMS news release.
Maximus has 38,000 employees. This year, employees in Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi have protested for higher wages, but the company has said it is limited by the federal Service Contract Act.
Maximus was founded in 1975 and provides business process management and technology services to federal, state and local governments. The company reported $4.25 billion in revenue in 2021 and has employees in nine countries. Of its 38,000 employees, about 4,600 are in Virginia.
Tysons-based MicroStrategy Inc. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor is being sued by the city of Washington, D.C., which accuses Saylor of engaging in a fraudulent scheme to deprive the city of more than $25 million in income taxes while living in “a luxury penthouse on the Georgetown waterfront” and claiming to be a resident of Virginia or Florida.
The civil lawsuit, filed Aug. 22 by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine in the District of Columbia Superior Court and unsealed Wednesday, also names MicroStrategy as a defendant, alleging that the company and its executives conspired with Saylor to avoid his obligations to pay city income taxes. Under the city’s new False Claims Act, Saylor, who ranks No. 1,818 on Fortune’s list of world billionaires with an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion, could be found personally liable for more than $75 million in unpaid taxes and penalties if the lawsuit is successful.
“A decade ago, I bought an historic house in Miami Beach and moved my home there from Virginia,” Saylor said in a written statement sent to Virginia Business. “Although MicroStrategy is based in Virginia, Florida is where I live, vote and have reported for jury duty, and it is at the center of my personal and family life. I respectfully disagree with the position of the District of Columbia, and look forward to a fair resolution in the courts.”
In August, Saylor stepped down as CEO of the publicly traded tech company he cofounded in 1989, taking on the position of executive chairman, while MicroStrategy President Phong Le was appointed CEO. The move followed MicroStrategy’s August earnings report, which tallied the company’s $1.98 billion impairment loss on its bitcoin holdings. Saylor has long been a vocal advocate of bitcoin, and the company is best known as the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, having invested nearly $4 billion in the cryptocurrency.
Racine’s office alleges that Saylor avoided paying more than $25 million in taxes “by pretending to be a resident of other states with lower personal income taxes.” The attorney general is seeking to recover unpaid income taxes and penalties from both Saylor and MicroStrategy that could total more than $100 million, according to a release from Racine’s office.
According to the lawsuit, from 2005 to the present, Saylor has lived in “Trigate,” his 7,000-square-foot waterfront D.C. penthouse — where he’s docked “multiple yachts on the District’s Potomac riverfront” — but has claimed to be a Virginia resident. In 2012, according to the lawsuit, Saylor commenced a scheme to “fraudulently misrepresent” himself as a resident of Florida, where he bought a house in Miami Beach. He also obtained a driver’s license in the Sunshine State and registered to vote there.
At the same time, Saylor’s conduct — including voting three times in Florida elections using absentee ballots sent to Tysons or D.C., according to the lawsuit — showed that he didn’t intend to abandon the nation’s capital.
MicroStrategy has invested more than $4 billion in bitcoin. Photo by Stephen Gosling
During or around 2013, Saylor asked MicroStrategy to begin using his Florida address on Internal Revenue Service forms, the lawsuit alleges, instead of his actual home address in D.C. MicroStrategy was aware that Saylor actually lived in D.C., according to the suit, because the company provided him with a security detail and transportation services such as flights and personal drivers.
About a year later, the company’s then-chief financial officer grew concerned about MicroStrategy’s involvement in the scheme, according to the lawsuit, and counted the days Saylor spent in the District, finding Saylor spent a majority of each year there. When confronted about the scheme to avoid paying D.C. taxes, and Saylor’s possible liability to the company, Saylor agreed to a reduction of salary to $1, but his compensation remained higher because of fringe benefits, including use of the company’s plane, the lawsuit says.
MicroStrategy continued to report Saylor’s Florida address on his W-2s from 2014 through 2021, and failed to withhold D.C. income taxes.
“This was no mere clerical error,” the lawsuit says, alleging that MicroStrategy conspired with Saylor.
MicroStrategy responded to the allegations in a written statement, sent to Virginia Business.
“The case is a personal tax matter involving Mr. Saylor,” the statement said. “The company was not responsible for his day-to-day affairs and did not oversee his individual tax responsibilities. Nor did the company conspire with Mr. Saylor in the discharge of his personal tax responsibilities. The District of Columbia’s claims against the company are false and we will defend aggressively against this overreach.”
Saylor, a well-known “bitcoin whale,” is prolific on Twitter, with more than 2.6 million followers. He made no mention of the lawsuit there Wednesday, instead tweeting about the cryptocurrency.
Saylor has also been known for his lavish parties and for his playboy lifestyle. In 2012, he purchased a waterfront Miami Beach home for $13.1 million, according to a 2014 story in The Washington Post. The 18,000-square-foot mansion, Villa Vecchia, has 13 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms.
That purchase came just after Saylor spent $5 million on custom woodwork for Trigate, which Saylor formed from his purchase of three units at the K Street NW Georgetown building between 2006 and 2008, the lawsuit says. Saylor posted on social media frequently before and during renovations of Trigate, during which Saylor lived on his yachts as well as in another penthouse he owned in the city’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. The lawsuit cited those posts as evidence that Saylor considered D.C. his home.
The lawsuit is filed under a new D.C. law — the False Claims Act — that encourages whistleblowers to report instances of city residents evading tax laws by misrepresenting where they live. The act allows the court to punish tax evaders by imposing three times the amount of the taxes evaded. If the suit is successful, whistleblowers may be awarded up to 30% of the collected funds .
In Saylor’s case, whistleblowers represented by Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft filed an April 2021 lawsuit against Saylor alleging tax fraud between 2014 and 2020, according to a release from Racine’s office. The release also says the whistleblowers’ complaint alleges Saylor openly bragged about evading taxes. That complaint too was unsealed and released publicly Wednesday.
Bon Secours has named Mike Lutes as its new president for the health system’s Richmond market, effective Oct. 10.
He will oversee all Richmond market operations, according to a news release. Lutes replaces Faraaz Yousef, who left Bon Secours in April to become chief operating officer and executive vice president of Pennsylvania-based WellSpan Health.
Lutes joins Bon Secours from Atrium Health, a nonprofit health system in Charlotte, North Carolina, with more than 70,000 employees, 40 hospitals and 1,400 care locations. He spent 15 years there, holding multiple leadership roles and most recently serving as senior vice president and president for its southern market with oversight of five hospitals.
“Mike Lutes is exceptionally skilled with complex health care system operations in diverse markets and has demonstrated a real strength in establishing community partnerships,” Don Kline, Bon Secours Mercy Health chief operating officer, said in a statement. “He is a proven leader who has been successful throughout his career implementing a strategic vision and collaborating with physicians and associates, and we are excited to welcome him to our health care ministry.”
Lutes has a bachelor’s in business administration and health care management from Appalachian State University and a master’s of health administration from the Medical University of South Carolina.
She will be responsible for overall strategic management of human resources for the chainsaw and outdoor power equipment manufacturer. Stihl employs more than 3,000 workers in the United States and supplies the majority of Stihl products for the U.S. market, as well as components and products for 80 markets around the world.
Stihl Inc. is the largest subsidiary of the global Stihl Group.
Doleman joins Stihl after serving as vice president of human resources for a division of Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. Before joining HII, she was vice president of human resources/operations at B&B Manufacturing Inc.
“We are pleased to welcome Melody to Stihl,” Terry Horan, president and CEO of Stihl Inc., said in a statement. “At the heart of our success as a company is our people, the real people manufacturing, distributing, marketing and selling Stihl equipment. Melody has a keen understanding of the human resource role in developing an employee-oriented company culture that emphasizes employee development and retention, and organizational quality and continuous improvement. She brings to Stihl more than 25 years of experience as a leader and mentor that will greatly benefit our employees here in Virginia Beach, as well as our branches across the country.”
Doleman earned a bachelor of arts in mass communication and media studies from the University of South Carolina.
“Stihl is known for innovation, leadership, and a commitment to their people,” Doleman said in a statement. “I look forward to bringing my passion for building highly engaged and empowered teams to the organization and working together to grow this world-class organization’s tradition of excellence.”
Fortune 500 used car online retailerCarvana Co. is more than halfway to its 400-employee hiring goal for its $25 million, 191,000-square-foot Chesterfield County inspection center, General Manager Robert Sheets said Wednesday at the center’s ribbon cutting.
Carvana has hired 240 employees and expects to reach 400 workers when it begins full production later this year. The company started training employees at the end of June.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin attended the ribbon cutting and toured the facility at 15100 Woods Edge Road, near the county’s border with Colonial Heights.
“This is the final step of a real vision that got interrupted by the pandemic,” he said, “and this path to normalcy takes lots of twists and turns. That path to normalcy here in Carvana was all about persistence and fortitude, and finishing a project that needed to be finished.”
The Chesterfield center is Carvana’s 18th inspection center in the U.S., Sheets said.
“Our inspection centers are where we repair, recondition and prepare vehicles for sale on our online platform,” Sheets said. “Vehicles sold from our inspection centers can find their way to customers anywhere in the country.”
Carvana General Manager Robert Sheets (left) gives Gov. Glenn Youngkin a tour of Carvana’s inspection center in Chesterfield County. Photo by Katherine Schulte
The facility launched operations with one production line, but Carvana plans to have three lines running by the end of the year.
“I would say by [the end of] November we would be ramped up where we would have about 400 people here and three production lines,” Sheets said.
The facility has capacity for eight production lines, he added, which would likely require more than double the 400 employees being hired now. There is no defined timeline for a further expansion, he said.
“Approximately 10,000 vehicles will be housed on this facility at one time,” Sheets said. Carvana employees perform 150-point inspections on each car. The center has “domes” to take 360-degree photos of vehicles for its online listings.
The target for one production line is 160 cars per week, and the facility would inspect and recondition about 480 cars a week by the end of the year. Should its production expand to eight lines, the center would complete inspections on almost 1,300 cars a week.
Carvana currently has nearly 350 employees across Virginia. The online retailer also has a car vending machine — a large metal and glass tower with stories of cars — that opened last November in Richmond. Buyers can choose to pick their cars up from that vending machine, so some cars from the Chesterfield center could end up there.
At the opening of the facility, Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, praised the company. “While people will ooh and ahh over the Richmond vending machine, which I admit is pretty darn cool, it will be this quiet, hard-working inspection center that ensures that vehicles are ready to keep our roads safe,” she said.
Founded in 2012, Carvana is based in Tempe, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix. It has more than 75,000 vehicles for sale online. In 2021, the e-commerce company reported $12.8 billion in revenue, a jump from $5.59 billion in 2020, and sold 425,237 vehicles.
Who are Virginia’s most powerful and influential leaders in business, government, politics and education this year? Find out in the third annual edition of the Virginia 500: The 2022-23 Power List.
Who are Virginia’s most powerful and influential leaders in business, government, politics and education this year? Find out in the third annual edition of the Virginia 500: The 2022-23 Power List.
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