Martin Marietta Reportedly to Pay Cost of FBI Probe

Martin Marietta Corp. has agreed to pay $1 million to cover the cost of an FBI investigation of suspected fraudulent business practices at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, a Houston TV station reported Monday.

KHOU, the local CBS affiliate, said federal authorities in Houston will announce charges today against nine individuals implicated in the probe and identify the involvement of at least two NASA contractors in the investigation.

Phil Giaramita, a Martin Marietta spokesman reached Monday, declined to comment.

Law enforcement officials said Dec. 2 that federal agents had posed as businessmen promoting medical equipment as part of an investigation into suspected fraud and kickbacks at the Johnson Space Center.

The investigation targeted several large government contractors, a number of employees at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and more than a dozen employees at private firms, they said.

Martin Marietta, an aerospace company based in Bethesda, Md., said Dec. 3 that it was under investigation in the probe and was cooperating with the government.