Ex-Boeing Exec Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy

A tearful former top Air Force official Tuesday pleaded guilty to conspiracy for discussing a job with Boeing Co. while overseeing the Air Force’s business dealings with the company.

Darleen Druyun, 56, who retired as the No. 2 Air Force acquisition official in November 2002 and took a job with Boeing two months later, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors who are investigating Michael Sears, the former Boeing chief financial officer who hired her.

“I deeply regret my actions,” an emotional Druyun told Judge T.S. Ellis III in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Druyun has been under investigation for possible conflicts of interest in a $23.5-billion Air Force plan to lease and buy 100 Boeing 767s as refueling planes. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that the deal remained on hold pending several additional reviews.

Boeing fired Druyun and Sears on Nov. 24, saying the two violated company ethics rules by discussing a Boeing job for Druyun while she was working on Boeing-related Air Force programs and then trying to cover it up. Boeing Chief Executive Phil Condit resigned a week later.

Druyun on Tuesday admitted negotiating the Boeing job with Sears while at the Air Force and then conspiring with him to conceal the talks. She also admitted to asking a senior Boeing executive to secure jobs for her daughter, Heather McKee, and her then-boyfriend, now husband.

Druyun faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Her sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 6.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Druyun will provide any information and documents she has about any criminal behavior and submit to a lie-detector test.

The government agreed not to prosecute Druyun’s daughter -- who is still employed by Boeing -- for her role in facilitating communications between Druyun and Sears.

U.S. Atty. Paul McNulty told reporters the government’s investigation would continue.