When Blood Money Isn’t Enough: Raytheon Admits to Defrauding Pentagon
When Blood Money Isn’t Enough: Raytheon Admits to Defrauding Pentagon
RTX’s bombs regularly kill children and civilians. It does white-collar crimes too, according to a $950 million fraud and bribery settlement this week.
RTX CORPORATION, the weapons giant formerly (and better) known as Raytheon, agreed on Wednesday to pay almost $1 billion to resolve allegations that it defrauded the U.S. government and paid bribes to secure business with Qatar.
“Raytheon engaged in criminal schemes to defraud the U.S. government,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kevin Driscoll of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division on Wednesday. “Such corrupt and fraudulent conduct, especially by a publicly traded U.S. defense contractor, erodes public trust and harms the DOD, businesses that play by the rules, and American taxpayers.”
RTX, as part of this agreement that spanned multiple investigations into its business, admitted to engaging in two separate schemes to defraud the Defense Department, which included deals for a radar system and Patriot missile systems. It also agreed to enter a separate deferred prosecution agreement, which requires increased government oversight and transparency for the next three years, in connection with the Qatari kickbacks.
Cost of business punishments do not work.
A) The people who executed these deals broke the law and should be subject to criminal prosecution.
B) Raytheon should be subject to sanctions beyond fines. They should not be allowed to bid on any federal contracts for a specified time period.
IMO, this level of fraud should end up with RTX being nationalized.
And those who made the decision being held personally guilty as coconspirators
No, they shouldn't just pay a fine to get out of this -especially since it's just a measly one billion dollars "cost of business" fine. They should lose all government business for a period of years.
Absolutely agree. Aside from any punishment, If our government is willing to continue to work with fraudulent partners, what the hell does that say about our government?
Nothing more will happen. The big defense contractors get a free pass because they are the funnel that brings money into the US from countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia, Afganistan, etc. The billion dollar fine is theatre so the few americans that are even paying attention won't make a stink.
Weird. When a guy in my unit accepted a couple hundred bucks in dependent pay after his divorce, he spent a year in Leavenworth for it
Was the guy in your unit also a worth about $70 billion?
Because RTX is.
That's the difference.
Immmissingbthe part about the jail terms for the execs that made and operated this scheme.
I mean, if I commit billions of dollars in fraud, possibly commit treason by taking bribes for weapons, etc, I'll go to jail for life.
How about the execs?
"Executives are paid so much more because they take on more responsibility and risk!" 🤣
They take it, and leave it in one go.
Hey, they had to answer some very stern questions.
Reminds me of when Ex-Halliburtom CEO Dick Cheney was appointed as Vice President of the United States, the United States went to war, Halliburton was awarded no bid contracts totaling tens of billions of dollars...and then systematically overcharged and defrauded the government about the services they provided over the contract they were awarded.
edit: it's also interesting to see Liz Cheney quoted in this article arguing against a "left narrative" of grift and fraud when it clearly thrived under her father yet now she's against the pinnacle of it in Trump.
The only thing better than shittons of money is more money.
Jailing the management is the only way the sort of thing will stop or at least slow down.