Thu, Feb 24, 2005
Executives Also Point Out New Ethics Safeguards
Former CFO and a vice president are
in jail. The former CEO resigned. Contracts are being questioned --
the company could lose billions. Now, federal prosecutors are
looking at just how culpable Boeing itself may be for the ethical
wanderings of some employees. What's Boeing going to do?
The answer may be: Cooperate.
When Boeing's ousted Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears was
sentenced Friday to four months in federal prison, he made it clear
to the court that he only wanted to help his company when he held
illegal talks about employment with the very Air Force official
negotiation a $23.5 billion contract for new aerial refueling
tankers. They were also negotiating Boeing's piece of the F-22
contract and yet, not long after the tanker talks were successfully
concluded by Boeing, there Darleen Druyun sat in a comfy new office
with a plaque on the door that marked her as a highly-paid Boeing
vice president.
Druyun (below) was found out and fired, along with Sears.
She was sentenced to nine months in federal prison. CEO Phil Condit
was unable to escape the fallout. He resigned shortly after the
scandal broke. Combined with Sears' mea culpa and scandals
involving launch contracts, all that could spell a corporate
culture that encouraged foul play. If government investigators find
that to be the case, there won't be enough fans in Chicago for
what's about to hit Boeing.
There's more.
The Wall Street Journal points out that, since Sears was such a
senior officer at Boeing -- not only CFO, but one of the four
people who ran the company's office of the chairman -- the company
is automatically liable as well. In fact, government lawyers point
to the Druyun-Sears case as a "textbook example" of this type of
case.
Now warming up in the bullpen: Boeing's entire legal staff.
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