Top bar

About POGO's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database (FCMD)

The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

Blackwater USA

Firearms Practices

Date: 04/16/2010 (Date of Indictments)

Misconduct Type: Other

Enforcement Agency: Justice

Contracting Party: Multiple Agencies

Court Type: Criminal

Amount: $0

Disposition: Pleaded Guilty

Synopsis: In was reported in September 2007 that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh, N.C., with help from Pentagon and State Department auditors, is investigating Blackwater's (renamed Xe in February 2009) domestic and overseas firearm practices. Two former Blackwater employees — Kenneth Wayne Cashwell and William Ellsworth "Max" Grumiaux — pleaded guilty in early 2007 to possession of stolen firearms and are reportedly cooperating in the investigation of the company. According to Blackwater, the company reported the two former employees to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) for their misconduct and requested that ATF visit its site and conduct a thorough review. In April 2010, five former Blackwater employees – former president Gary Jackson, former general counsel Andrew Howell, former executive vice president William Wheeler Mathews, Jr., former vice president of logistics and procurement Ana Bundy, and former armorer Ronald Slezak – were indicted on charges including conspiring to violate federal firearm laws, filing false forms, unlawful possession of automatic firearms, possession of unregistered firearms, and obstruction of justice.