3 ex-execs of Raytheon agree to settle charges

Three former Raytheon Co. executives have agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they participated in accounting violations at the company’s civil aircraft unit.

The SEC said the former executives were either involved in or aware of accounting practices that “operated as a fraud” by disguising the aircraft subsidiary’s deteriorating financial health from 1997 to 2001.

The executives -- Franklyn A. Caine, Raytheon’s former chief financial officer; Edward S. Pliner, a former controller and lead auditor; and James E. Gray, former CFO of Raytheon Aircraft Co. -- agreed to pay the penalties, but without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations.

Shares of Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon rose 36 cents Thursday to $52.64.