Zylon fiber a the material used by police contractor Second Chance Body Armor to make bulletproof vests. The fiber manufacturer, Toyobo, informed SCBA that Zylon may experience degradation. Corporate leaders chose to conceal this critical defect. Toyobo and SCBA entered into a secret “rebate” agreement in which Toyobo offered financial incentives to SCBA in exchange for promoting Zylon vests to police forces. Toyobo paid SCBA an immediate “retroactive rebate” of $1.421 million. SCBA continued to sell the Zylon vests and did not issue any warnings. Two officers were critically injured while wearing Zylon vests. One died. Whistleblower Aaron Westrick, research director at SCBA, exposed the scheme and filed a False Claims suit.