In 2003 misconduct of conflict-of-interest laws shocked the defense industry. Serious violations were committed at The Boeing Company by former top Air Force procurement official Darleen Druyun who admitted to helping The Boeing Company obtain a $23 billion tanker refueling contract in exchange for an executive job at the company. While verbally accepting a position with Lockheed Darlene Druyun did not disclose her job negotiations with a Mike Sears a Chief Financial officer while overseeing aerial tanker negotiations between Boeing and the U.S. Air force. This non-commitment to ethical behavior and compliance gave Boeing a competitive advantage while bidding on the contract.
There were several ethical conflicts by both Darlene Druyun and Mike Sears. Mike Sears violated the company’s policy by approaching Darlene Druyun about joining the company, before she had disqualified herself from acting in her official government capacity on issues involving Boeing. This misconduct in the hiring procedure by Sears clearly violates the conflict-of-interest laws at Boeing. Darlene Druyun and Mike Sears secretly tried to conceal a deal to exchange an executive job at Boeing in exchange for the Tanker refueling contract, which violates procurement regulations (Procurement Integrity Act), stealing trade secrets related to several aerospace programs (Economic Espionage Act), fraudulent attempts to falsify contract documents (False Claims Act), and to commit fraud (Major Frauds Act). Not to mention conspiracy and aiding-and-abetting charges.
Utilitarianism says that an act is ethical if its result increases total human happiness. The consequentialism of the utilitarianism theory for Darlene Druyun and Mike Sears was “Is it ethical to exchange an executive job for a high profile contract?” Both parties are going to benefit from the exchange and both parties will have something that they want. The pull begins with the