Tacoma foundry produced substandard steel, falsified tests for Navy, settlement shows
The Department of Justice announced Monday that Bradken Inc. paid $10.8 million to settle allegations its Tacoma foundry produced substandard steel parts for U.S. Navy submarines.
The Tacoma foundry produced castings that allegedly failed lab tests for 30 years, according to court filings. Bradken and its former lab director, Elaine Thomas, 66, also were criminally charged. Thomas was charged with major fraud against the United States and will make an initial court appearance in Tacoma later this month.
Bradken’s Tacoma foundry produces castings used in submarine hulls. The Navy requires the steel to meet certain standards so it does not fail under circumstances such as collision. Thomas allegedly falsified test results for over 200 productions of steel to hide that they did not meet Navy standards, according to a DOJ news release .
Bradken also was charged with major fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Washington. Under a deferred-prosecution agreement, Bradken has accepted responsibility and will take a number of steps to comply with the government’s investigation and change its lab testing procedures. If Bradken meets all the requirements, charges will be dismissed after three years, DOJ said.
U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran said Bradken continually misled the Navy about the “scope and nature of the fraud.” Bradken management knew about the falsified tests as early as May 2017 but allegedly told the Navy they were not the result of fraud, according to the news release.
In a statement Monday, Bradken said Thomas acted without the knowledge or involvement of management and was immediately terminated after an internal investigation. Bradken added that the deferred prosecution agreement will allow it to continue providing steel to the U.S. military.
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 12:03 PM.
