• Published July 30, 2020
• By Dr. Deborah Kidwell
• OSI Command Historian

QUANTICO, Va. -- One of the largest monetary recoveries obtained as a result of an Office of Special Investigations fraud investigation, included a $615 million settlement with the Boeing Company. OSI agents worked in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern Virginia, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the DoD Inspector General to favorably conclude the case.

On June 30, 2006, Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty announced the settlement to resolve charges the company improperly used competitor information, obtained illegally from an Air Force official, to procure contracts for launch services worth billions of dollars from the service and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

McNulty said, “The American people rightly expect government officials and contractors to act with integrity…The outcome of these investigations sends a clear message to those doing business with the government: harsh consequences await anyone whose conduct falls short of the highest legal and ethical standards.”

Investigations into the matter discovered Boeing’s former Chief Financial Officer, Michael Sears, hired a former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition and Management, Darleen A. Druyun, after her retirement. Druyun served as the Air Force’s top career civilian acquisition official from 1993-2002 and eventually confessed, while in office, she gave Boeing preferential treatment on numerous contracts.

In one instance, Druyun admitted improperly awarding a $4 billion contract to upgrade C-130 aircraft avionics to Boeing, while in another, she passed rival bidding information to the company and later worked a deal to lease 767 Boeing tankers. Druyun characterized her decision to pay Boeing $100 million excess for upgrading NATO Airborne Warning And Control System aircraft, as a parting gift. In return, Druyun asked Boeing to employ her daughter and son-in-law, and negotiated a position for herself paying $250,000 a year (plus a $50,000 signing bonus), while still employed by the Air Force.