GE Will Pay $70-Million to Settle Suit, Paper Reports : Fraud: The firm reportedly will also plead guilty to criminal charges in connection with its sale of military jet engines to Israel.
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NEW YORK — General Electric is ready to plead guilty to criminal charges--and pay a $70-million fine--to settle charges of alleged fraud in selling military jet engines to Israel, a newspaper reported Friday.
The company is expected to plead guilty July 22 to charges that it filed false claims totaling more than $40 million with the Israeli Defense Ministry and the Pentagon.
Prosecutors also allege that GE gave Israeli Air Force Gen. Rami Dotan $7.9 million to influence his decisions regarding contracts for jet fighter engines.
The plea agreement was reported Friday in the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper quoted anonymous sources it said were familiar with the talks between GE and the Justice Department.
Last month, the Pentagon briefly suspended the aircraft engines division of GE from competing for future contracts because of the alleged fraud involving Dotan and former GE marketing employee Herbert Steindler.
GE fired Steindler in 1991. The Israeli military demoted Dotan, and he is serving a 13-year prison term in Israel for skimming millions of dollars in U.S. military aid that financed Air Force projects.
The Justice Department action was part of a lawsuit brought by a former GE employee in federal court in Cincinnati. The Justice Department took over the lawsuit and is asking for triple damages of $120 million.
The whistle-blower, Chester Walsh, could receive as much as 35% of any money the government recovers.
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