The US government ordered defense contractor Raytheon to pay more than $950 million in fines for inflating federal contracts and bribing senior foreign military officials.
According to a press release on the US Department of Justice's website, Raytheon - a subsidiary of the RTX defense and aerospace corporation - did not dispute the allegations. The company agreed to pay the fine and sign a three-year counter-suit agreement (DPA) for the allegations, including two counts of " major fraud against the United States".
" Raytheon admitted to being involved in two separate plots to defraud the Department of Defense in connection with the provision of defense goods and services, including patriot missile systems and radar systems," the US Department of Justice statement said.
According to prosecutors, from 2012 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2018, Raytheon employees provided "disinformation and fraud" to the Ministry of National Defense during contract negotiations on the sale of patriot missile systems and on the operation and maintenance of radar systems.
In both cases, prosecutors said the US Department of Defense was scammed and eventually paid Raytheon more than $111 million than the company actually paid.
Raytheon also admitted to repeatedly providing false information to the Ministry of National Defense in the period from 2009 to 2020 regarding the costs and prices of many government contracts.
The producer also signed a three-year separate DPA on two other counts, including a plot to bribe a senior Qatari military official and a plot to violate the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) to conceal bribes in export license applications to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Raytheon is also said to have reached a separate settlement under the Anti-Fraud Declaration Act with the Department of Justice regarding contested valuation programs.
Raytheon was involved in criminal plots to defraud the US government over contracts for key military systems and secure bribes in Qatar, said Deputy Attorney General Kevin Driscoll of the US Department of Justices Criminal Department.
Such corruption and fraud, especially by a US defense contractor, is publicly traded, eroding public trust and harming the Department of Defense, businesses that comply with US laws and taxpayers, Driscoll added.
Under the two DPAs, Raytheon will be required to maintain an independent compliance monitoring unit for three years, enhance an internal compliance program, report additional evidence of wrongdoings and cooperate in any ongoing or potential criminal investigations, the DOJ explained.
