The city of Chicago has joined a lawsuit against Redflex, an Australian company that sold the city red light cameras starting in 2003. Redflex announced the legal action in a statement to stockholders (PDF) today, sending the company's already-suffering stock down to $0.17 per share.

The suit alleges (PDF) that Redflex bribed a former Department of Transportation manager, John Bills, with $2 million in kickbacks to secure contracts with the city. The debacle has already resulted in corruption convictions, and the company's CEO, Karen Finley, pleaded guilty to bribery earlier this year.

Beyond these issues, Redflex cameras have been implicated in faulty ticketing accusations, with the company's cameras allegedly issuing some 13,000 undeserved tickets to motorists in 2014. Redflex cameras have reportedly raised more than $500 million in traffic fines since 2003, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The suit was filed under seal earlier this year by Aaron Rosenberg, a former executive vice president at Redflex who worked closely with Bills. Rosenberg was allegedly fired by Redflex after city officials began looking into the nature of Bills' relationship with Redflex. The fired executive alleged that Redflex knew of and encouraged the bribery and later hired one of Bills' friends, Martin O'Malley, as a contractor for Redflex. Through O'Malley, more money (ahem: bills) was funneled to Bills.

Chicago's complaint alleges that Redflex, as a vendor to the municipality, had to sign multiple contracts that required the company to promise that it would not engage in bribery of public officials. "The City suffered damages in reliance on Redflex's false statements that it had not engaged in bribery or attempted to bribe any employee of the City," the suit reads. The Chicago Tribune notes that the city is asking for three times the $124 million amount it paid Redflex while it was in contract with the company, as well as a civil penalty of between $5,000 and $10,000 “for each individual false statement made by Redflex” to the city.

Update: In a statement e-mailed to Ars today, Redflex reiterated its statement from 2014: “We took strong action more than two years ago, conducting an internal investigation, announcing new leadership, cooperating with law enforcement and taking powerful, specific steps to improve compliance. The new Redflex proudly serves 170 communities around the country. We will continue to lead the industry in how public-private partnerships should be managed.”