PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 22 -- Plummer Precision Optics Co., now known as Blue Jaunte Co., will have to pay more than $875,000 in fines after admitting to shipping millions of dollars worth of defective parts to the military. Plummer, whose products include the sights for the M-1 tank, also admitted making false inspection reports.
The company will also pay $2.3 million to the government to settle a separate civil lawsuit, according to the US Attorney's Office. Two former executives, Walter Lagger and Max Haskins, were expected to plead guilty in the next few days, prosecutors said.
Officials at Plummer were accused of defrauding the government for more than a decade after the company's former marketing director exposed the company in 1997. Inspectors who warned the company that its products did not meet government specifications were threatened with losing their jobs, the lawsuit said.
The company supplied optical equipment to the armed forces during World War II and more recently produced technology for the Army's laser range finders as well as the M-1 tank's sighting system.