Ex-Executive for Boeing Is Sentenced
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Former Boeing Co. Chief Financial Officer Michael M. Sears was sentenced to four months in prison Friday for illegally offering a job to an Air Force acquisition official while she was negotiating a multibillion-dollar contract with the aerospace giant.
Sears, 57, also was fined $250,000. He pleaded guilty in November for recruiting Darleen Druyun, who oversaw a $23-billion Air Force contract to acquire 100 aerial refueling tankers from the company.
Speaking before a packed courtroom, Sears apologized for what he described as an "impulsive" decision to pursue Druyun in October 2002 even though she had not removed herself from handling Boeing contracts, as required by conflict-of-interest laws.
"I take full responsibility for this bad decision," Sears, wearing a charcoal gray suit, said during the hearing at U.S. District Court. "I know what I did was wrong."
Druyun is serving a nine-month prison term for illegally seeking a Boeing job while negotiating the now-canceled tanker deal.
She also admitted to favoring Boeing on several other major contracts because the company hired her daughter and son-in-law at her request.
Her admission prompted rival defense contractors to file protests over contracts won by Boeing.
In a separate development Friday, the Government Accountability Office said that a $2.5-billion small-diameter bomb contract awarded to Boeing might have been tainted by "improper involvement and influence" from Druyun.
It recommended that the Air Force hold competitions for future bomb orders.
Judge Gerald Bruce Lee said Sears' sentence reflected the damage done to taxpayers. But he also told him his conduct did not seem as severe as that of Druyun, who was the ultimate decision maker on most big Air Force contracts for nearly a decade.
"You are a person who had everything," Lee said, "and in the blink of an eye you jeopardized everything."
The judge could have imposed a maximum sentence of five years in prison, though federal guidelines suggested that up to six months in jail was appropriate.
Sears' lawyers had sought only probation.
Boeing is hoping that Sears' sentencing, along with other recent developments, will provide a significant boost in its efforts to resolve government investigations over a series of ethics scandals, which have rocked the Chicago-based company.
