The US government has ordered defense contractor Raytheon to pay more than $950 million in fines for inflating federal contracts and bribing senior foreign military officials.
Raytheon, a subsidiary of defense and aerospace giant RTX, has agreed to pay a fine and enter into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) related to the charges, which include two counts of “major fraud against the United States,” according to a press release on the US Department of Justice website.
"Raytheon admitted to engaging in two separate conspiracies to defraud the Department of National Defense in connection with the provision of defense goods and services, including Patriot missile systems and radar systems," the statement from the US Department of Justice said.
According to prosecutors, from 2012 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2018, Raytheon employees provided “false and fraudulent information” to the Ministry of National Defense during contract negotiations for the sale of Patriot missile systems and for the operation and maintenance of radar systems.
In both cases, prosecutors said the US Department of National Defense was deceived and ended up paying Raytheon $111 million more than the company actually paid.
Raytheon also admitted to repeatedly providing false information to the Ministry of National Defense between 2009 and 2020 regarding the costs and prices of multiple government contracts.
The manufacturer also signed a separate three-year DPA on two other charges including conspiring to bribe a senior Qatari military official and conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) by concealing bribes in export license applications to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Raytheon is also said to have reached a separate settlement under the False Claims Act with the Department of Justice regarding misleading pricing schemes.
“Raytheon engaged in criminal conspiracies to defraud the U.S. government in connection with contracts for critical military systems and to win business through bribes in Qatar,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kevin Driscoll of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division.
“Such corrupt and fraudulent conduct, particularly by a publicly traded U.S. defense contractor, erodes public trust and harms the Department of National Defense, law-abiding businesses, and American taxpayers,” Driscoll added.
Under the two DPA agreements, Raytheon will be required to maintain an independent compliance monitor for three years, enhance its internal compliance program, report evidence of additional misconduct and cooperate in any ongoing or future criminal investigations, the Department of Justice explained.
