BOSTON – The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced today a $57,000 settlement with two landlords and a property manager of three Dorchester apartments to resolve allegations they submitted false claims to the federal government after receiving impermissible excess rent payments from two low income tenants while participating in a federal housing subsidy program.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development provides federal funding through the Federal Housing Choice Voucher program, commonly referred to as “Section 8,” to assist low income individuals in securing safe housing. The funding is provided through vouchers that are administered by local public housing agencies. The housing subsidy, which may cover all or a portion of a tenant’s monthly rent, is paid directly to the landlord. As a condition for receiving the housing subsidy, the landlord contractually agrees not to charge the tenant rent in excess of the amount set by the public housing agency.

Despite this restriction, the landlords, Latchmin Nannan and David Nannan, and the property manager, Rhea Nannan, allegedly collected excess rent from two Section 8 tenants each month at various times between September 2006 and December 2015. Kafer Nevins, one of the two Section 8 tenants, first raised this allegation in a lawsuit filed against the defendants under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act...