SEC Probes Raytheon Over Potentially Improper Payments -- Update
February 13 2020 - 7:31PM
Dow Jones News
By Dylan Tokar
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an
inquiry into whether defense contractor Raytheon Co. or its
partners made improper payments in the Middle East.
Raytheon received a subpoena from regulators as part of an
investigation into the company and a joint venture with France's
Thales SA, Raytheon said in a securities filing Wednesday.
The SEC has asked for information about payments by Raytheon,
the joint venture or any intermediaries acting on their behalf in
certain Middle Eastern countries dating back to 2014, the company
said.
Raytheon didn't say when it had received the subpoena. Company
spokesman Mike Doble said Raytheon was cooperating with the SEC's
inquiry.
"We take any suggestion of misconduct seriously and we are
examining whether there has been any conduct that is in violation
of Raytheon policy," he said.
A spokesman for Thales said the company hadn't been contacted by
U.S authorities with respect to the matter.
Raytheon's joint venture with Thales, which stretches back in
2000, allowed the companies to combine some of their air defense
and radar businesses.
The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits companies from
paying bribes to foreign public officials.
Raytheon has had past brushes with the anticorruption law. An
internal review in 2009 turned up possible areas of concern with
regard to compliance with the FCPA, the company said at the
time.
The matter came to a close in 2013, when the SEC and the U.S.
Justice Department told Raytheon they had completed their own
reviews of the company's disclosure and wouldn't be recommending
enforcement actions.
Raytheon last year announced plans to merge with United
Technologies Corp., a combination that the companies have argued
would allow them to address changing defense priorities and budget
pressures. UTC didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Write to Dylan Tokar at dylan.tokar@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 13, 2020 19:16 ET (00:16 GMT)
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