LYNN — GE Aerospace paid more than $9 million to resolve allegations of False Claims Act violations stemming from its manufacturing plant in the city.
According to a press release from Acting United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Joshua Levy, GEA paid $9,413,024 to resolve allegations that the Lynn plant sold parts to the U.S. Army and Navy that were either not properly inspected or non-conforming.
The release said GEA admitted that at times, from 2012 to 2019, it did not conduct required parts inspections and sold engines containing parts that did not meet the requirements of the U.S. military.
“The provision of non-conforming parts for Department of Defense aircraft engines could pose a substantial threat to warfighter safety and readiness,” Greg Gross, who is the special agent in charge for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s Economic Crimes Field Office, said.
GEA Lynn is specifically alleged to have not consistently used functional gauges to inspect features on certain parts from 2014 to 2017, omitted at least two inspections of curvy features on certain part numbers from 2014 to 2018, and sold engines to the Army and Navy that contained unallowable metal fragments from 2014 to 2019.
“GE Aerospace failed to follow important inspection requirements on engines it sold to the military,” Levy said. “These rules exist for a reason – making sure the men and women we depend upon to protect our national security have the highest quality equipment.”
GE Aerospace Media Relations Manager Mandy Mayfield said there was no impact on the safety of the aircraft involved and pointed out that in the agreement, GEA was credited under the Department of Justice’s guidelines for taking disclosure, cooperation, and remediation into account in False Claims Act cases.
“Safety is our top priority. Upon learning of these issues more than five years ago, we alerted the Department of Defense and cooperated with the government’s investigation,” Mayfield said. “While these issues had no impact on the safety of the aircraft involved, we implemented significant corrective actions to ensure this does not occur again.”
