Northrop's Whistleblower

"Northrop Grumman Corp.[NGC] agreed Thursday to pay the US government $325 million to settle civil claims that a company it acquired allegedly made defective parts for spy satellites that resulted in serious malfuctions and expensive fixes several years ago. ... The settlement is the largest ever of a so-called whistleblower case alleging military-procurement fraud. [NGC] didn't admit any wrongdoing. ... The agreement also ends a separate lawsuit filed by [NGC] against the Pentagon over an unrelated contract for stealthy cruise missiles. ... Because the two payments cancel each other out, there is no net financial impact on [NGC]. However, the suit highlights questions about how quality-control issues were handled at one of the country's premier areospace suppliers. ... Robert Ferro, an Aerospace Corp. official who first discovered the problem, alleged that in 1995 TRW pressured him against publishing his findings highlighting problems with the transistors. Even after subsequent TRW tests confirmed Mr. Ferro's conclusions and government satellites started failing during 2001 amd 2002, TRW continued to tell the government 'it did not know and could not have been expected to know' about the problems beforehand", my emphasis, Andy Pastor at the WSJ, 3 April 2009.

Our soldiers could have been "blinded" in the field and no one goes to prison. Did the DOJ ever hear of 18 USC 1001, the false statements act? NGC net paid nothing. It presumably filed a false claim so the DOJ could settle both cases with no net effect and pay Ferro a few million to shut him up.