An Arizona community college district has agreed to pay $4.1 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that charged it submitted false claims to obtain state and national grants, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Christine Hunt, an employee of the Tempe, Arizona-based Maricopa County Community College District, will receive a $775,827 share of the settlement, according to the Justice Department, which issued a statement on the settlement Monday.

According to the department, the district submitted false claims to an independent federal agency, the Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers state and national grants on behalf of AmeriCorps.

The district had obtained AmeriCorps funding for Project Ayuda, a program intended to engage students in national service. To receive an AmeriCorps education award, a student had to meet certain service-hour requirements.

The district allegedly improperly certified that students had completed the required number of service hours so they would earn the award. The district also allegedly improperly received grant funds from the CNCS to administer the project, according to the Justice Department.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations, and there has been no determination of liability, the statement said.

“Taxpayers are justifiably outraged when a community fails to receive promised services because national service funds were misused,” said CNCS' Inspector General Deborah J. Jeffrey, in the statement. “We hope that this settlement will deter other grantees from similar misconduct.”

Paul Dale, the president of Phoenix-based Paradise Valley Community College, where Project Ayuda was based, said in a statement,

“Throughout the investigation, the college cooperated fully with the government and expressed our willingness to make AmeriCorps whole. Stewardship is a core value of our college, and we are committed to responsibly managing the assets and resources entrusted to us. We take the public trust and confidence very seriously, and strive to act accordingly. We will continue to take all appropriate actions to ensure those standards are maintained.”