Federal Suit Charges Firm Defrauded Navy

The federal government sued a North Hollywood aerospace firm Friday, alleging the company supplied the Navy with defective control valves for jet attack planes.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, accuses Consolidated Aeronautics Corp. of falsely certifying that more than 1,000 “selector set” control valves for A-7 planes were newly manufactured and functional.

In fact, “these parts, when tested, were found to be defective,” the suit said.

The government paid Consolidated $944,542 for the valves in 1985 and 1986. The parts enable an A-7 pilot to move sections of the jet’s tail during takeoff, landing and in flight.

The suit, filed under the False Claims Act which allows the government to recover losses stemming from defense fraud, seeks unspecified damages, penalties, interest payments and other costs.