Boeing official pleads guilty to kickbacks from suppliers

New York

A BOEING Co procurement official is among seven people who have pleaded guilty in a kickback scheme that involved giving confidential bidding information to suppliers to the aerospace company's satellite division, prosecutors said on Thursday.

The Boeing official, Mark Allen of Boeing's Space and Intelligence Systems unit in El Segundo, California, was charged with conspiracy to receive kickbacks, the prosecutors said. He was charged in April 2013, according to court papers, and pleaded guilty in May 2013. Three others in the alleged scheme - Raymond Joseph, Cesar Soto and Randy Mitchell - also have already pleaded guilty. Their cases were unsealed on Tuesday, and the four are awaiting sentencing, the prosecutors said.