Boeing Co. has agreed to pay $615 million to end a three-year Justice Department investigation into reported defense contracting scandals, a published report said Monday.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified people familiar with the details, said the deal would allow Boeing to avoid criminal charges or any admission of wrongdoing.
Boeing spokesman Tim Neale, reached early Monday at Boeing's Chicago headquarters, declined to substantiate the report.
"We have been in discussions with the Justice Department, but I can't comment on that," Neale told The Associated Press.
A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Boeing has been under investigation for improperly acquiring thousands of pages of rival Lockheed Martin Corp.'s proprietary documents in the late 1990s, using some of them to help win a competition for government rocket-launching business. The government stripped Boeing of about $1 billion worth of rocket launches for its improper use of the Lockheed documents.
Additionally, Boeing illegally recruited senior Air Force procurement official Darleen Druyun while she still had authority over billions of dollars in other Boeing contracts. Druyun reportedly also championed Boeing's efforts to bypass normal procurement procedures in offering to provide refueling tankers to the Air Force through a controversial $20 billion leasing program.
Druyun served nine months in prison last year for violating federal conflict-of-interest laws. Michael Sears, formerly chief financial officer at Boeing, spent four months in federal prison in 2005 for illegally recruiting her.
The scandals led to the firing of Boeing Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears in 2003 and the resignation of Chairman Phil Condit.
Boeing shares fell $1.39 to $85.62 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Boeing shares have been trading near the upper end of their 52-week range of $59.53 to $89.58.
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