SUNY food provider pays $20M to settle overcharging claims

Food services giant Sodexo has agreed to pay $20 million to settle claims that it overcharged 21 New York school districts and the State University of New York over a five-year span.

An investigation by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office found that the France-based company breached a food and vendor services contract by failing to pass on rebates from suppliers to SUNY campuses and 21 public schools across the state between 2004 and 2009.

The settlement, part of an ongoing industrywide investigation, was unsealed in federal court in Massachusetts on Tuesday.

Sodexo has nearly 380,000 employees - including 110,000 in the United States - working in hospitals, schools, military bases and the U.S. government.