Fluor Corp. will pay a civil penalty of $14.5 million as part of a settlement agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said Wednesday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigated Fluor’s accounting errors on two lump sum engineering, procurement and construction contracts, the company said in a press release. Fluor neither admits nor denies the findings in an SEC order. Five current and former Fluor officers and employees also agreed to settle related charges, the SEC said in its own press release.
Fluor’s “overly optimistic” bids on two non-nuclear projects caused it to “materially overstate its net earnings by as much as 37% from the company’s fiscal year 2016 through the first quarter of its fiscal year 2019,” the SEC said. “The company and the board of directors are pleased to put the investigation behind us,” Fluor CEO David Constable said in the company release.
Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Boston Government Services, has hired Doug Freund in the newly-created post of chief operating officer, the Department of Energy contractor said this week.
Freund was most recently senior vice president for Kiewit Nuclear Solutions, where he was responsible for markets and strategy, Boston Government Services said in a press release. In addition, Freund has been a vice president with Consolidated Nuclear Security, helping oversee operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Freund has 27 years of experience with engineering and facilities management. In addition to having worked with Leidos and Lockheed Martin, he was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force where he oversaw more than 700 people and helped manage supply chains in support of F-16 warplanes. Boston Government Services provides engineering, technology, and cybersecurity services to the weapons complex, according to its website.
Government contractor Leidos has promoted Amy Smith, whose experience includes working as a staffer for high-ranking Republicans in Congress, to be its senior vice president of government affairs.
Smith, who joined Leidos as vice president for government affairs in 2020, will be Leidos’ lead advocate on Capitol Hill, the company said in a Wednesday press release. Before Leidos, Smith was a senior manager at Boeing.
Previously, Smith spent 17 years as a congressional staffer, including stints during the early 2000s working for two House majority whips, Rep. Tom Delay (R-Texas) and Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who would also go on to serve in the senate, according to her LinkedIn profile.
President Joe Biden announced Sept. 3 that he will nominate Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, to serve as a U.S. representative to the United Nations.
The Biden White House said in a press release, he is nominating Lee to represent the United States During the United Nation’s 78th General Assembly, Sept. 18 through 26.
Lee was first elected to Congress in 1998 California’s 9th congressional district (now the 12th congressional district. Lee has also announced plans to run for the Senate to succeed Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Feinstein has said she will retire at the end of 2024.
