Blackwater to pay fine to settle arms charges

[FlintyV]

Aljazeera - The US security firm formerly known as Blackwater is to pay a fine of $7.5m to avoid legal proceedings over charges including arms trafficking.

The US Justice Department issued a statement on Tuesday to confirm that the company, now known as Academi, would pay the sum, along with a previously agreed $42m settlement with the US State Department, over violations of the country's Arms Export Control Act.

Documents unsealed in a US District Court in North Carolina said the company had agreed to pay the fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement to settle 17 violations.

The list of violations includes possessing automatic weapons in the US without registration, lying to federal firearms regulators about weapons provided to the king of Jordan, passing secret plans for armoured personnel carriers to Sweden and Denmark without US government approval and illegally shipping body armour overseas.

Federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents said the company, which has held billions in US security contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, repeatedly flouted US laws.

source

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

I love how most of the articles love to call it "the firm formerly known as blackwater" but will only sometimes show there current name.

They keep trying to change there name to break the association to all the bad stuff that's gone down with them.

There current name is "Academi".

[theyarecomingforyou]

I love how most of the articles love to call it "the firm formerly known as blackwater" but will only sometimes show there current name.

They keep trying to change there name to break association to all the bad stuff that's gone down with them.

There current name is "Academi".

It's a relatively clever strategy as the press rarely use their new name in headlines, meaning that much of the bad will continues to be associated with the old name. Then again, everybody knows what they're doing and it obviously looks bad that the company was forced to rename the company because of the negative publicity.

Companies likes this should be held accountable, not be allowed to escape with minor fines. It's companies like this that give the US such a bad reputation.