Executives Also Point Out New Ethics Safeguards

Former CFO and a vice president are in jail. The former CEO resigned. Contracts are being questioned -- the company could lose billions. Now, federal prosecutors are looking at just how culpable Boeing itself may be for the ethical wanderings of some employees. What's Boeing going to do?

The answer may be: Cooperate.

When Boeing's ousted Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears was sentenced Friday to four months in federal prison, he made it clear to the court that he only wanted to help his company when he held illegal talks about employment with the very Air Force official negotiation a $23.5 billion contract for new aerial refueling tankers. They were also negotiating Boeing's piece of the F-22 contract and yet, not long after the tanker talks were successfully concluded by Boeing, there Darleen Druyun sat in a comfy new office with a plaque on the door that marked her as a highly-paid Boeing vice president.

Druyun (below) was found out and fired, along with Sears. She was sentenced to nine months in federal prison. CEO Phil Condit was unable to escape the fallout. He resigned shortly after the scandal broke. Combined with Sears' mea culpa and scandals involving launch contracts, all that could spell a corporate culture that encouraged foul play. If government investigators find that to be the case, there won't be enough fans in Chicago for what's about to hit Boeing.

There's more.

The Wall Street Journal points out that, since Sears was such a senior officer at Boeing -- not only CFO, but one of the four people who ran the company's office of the chairman -- the company is automatically liable as well. In fact, government lawyers point to the Druyun-Sears case as a "textbook example" of this type of case.

Now warming up in the bullpen: Boeing's entire legal staff.

FMI: www.boeing.com