Hazeltine Corp., two of its former executives and a former official of Teledyne Corp. pleaded guilty to criminal charges Friday in the first prosecutions from the sweeping defense corruption scandal.
The pleas were entered before U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton even as a federal grand jury convened to return indictments against Teledyne, two defense consultants and a senior Navy engineer accused of accepting bribes for inside contract information, lawyers said.Hazeltine, of New York, agreed to pay more than $2 million in fines and penalties as part of its guilty plea to a three-count "criminal information" charging the firm with conspiracy to defraud the government, conversion of government property and filing a false statement.
Two of its former officials, Joseph Colarusso, former senior vice president, and Chuck Furciniti, a former marketing representative, pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to defraud the government and to commit wire fraud.
Also pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit bribery was Michael Savaides, a former marketing representative in Washington for the electronics division of Teledyne, a California contractor.
In return for leniency, the company and the three men agreed to cooperate fully with investigators.