The settlement of 208 violations of US arms control laws spanning several decades comes after ITT pleaded guilty to criminal charges brought by the US Department of Justice earlier last year.

ITT Corporation accepted as part of a plea bargain a unprecedented $100 financial penalty in that case.

SEE  http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/March/07_nsd_192.html

The latest legal action in the civil court adds a £28 million dollar penalty to the cost of ITT's criminal conspiracy and coverup.

SEE  http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/ca_ITT_Corporation.htm

Despite the fact that the Peoples Republic of China is on a list of prescribed countries that it is an offense for US arms firms to export to without presidential authority, and several prosecutions have been brought against other individuals who have attempted to supply China and Iran with military equipment, not one director of ITT has faced prosecution.

In the latest settlement ITT Corporation has also avoided disbarment for its future export of military equipment to foreign countries due to the "overriding national security and foreign policy interests” in the continuation of its business .

The case recalls the prosecution of ITT on charges of perjury in the 1970's after it denied to the US congress its involvement in the CIA backed military coup that overthrew the marxist President Allende's government on 11th September 1973, leading to his death and that of thousands of leftist supporters under the Pinochet dictatorship who were subsequently tortured and murdered.

The then Director of Central Intelligence at the CIA Richard Helms was prosecuted and convicted for lying to Congress about the coup,

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Helms,

and ITT 'Public Relations' officer Hal Hendrix pleaded guilty to lying under oath to congress, yet escaped with a mere £100 fine as reward for cooperating in a larger perjury case against ITT.

 http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKhendrixH.htm

But the perjury case against ITT was then dropped altogether in 1979 on grounds of 'national security'.  http://tinyurl.com/2kc6nu

Multinational Monitor writes 'In 1978 and '79, the Justice Department dropped claims that ITT executives had perjured themselves in congressional hearings on the Chilean takeover, claiming that their evidence would endanger "national security." Edward Kory, who was U.S. ambassador to Chile at the time of the coup, claimed that ITT Chairman Geneen was not indicted because "he knows too much" about the CIA's relationships with U.S. corporations around the world.'

 http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1982/01/itt.html

Documents declassified in 2000 proved that ITT had lied to congress about its involvement in Chilean politics but the case was never reopened.  http://tinyurl.com/2xmaj8

More at:  http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB110/index.htm


ITT have gained a reputation for securing high level political backing for their business interests since the early 20th century that has included securing phones systems for fascist General Franco during the Spanish Civil War enabling him to rise to power, and paying funds into the slush fund of Nazi SS leader Heinrich Himmler, the man responsible for carrying out the mass extermination programme of the nazi holocaust.

 http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/EurMEast.html#Card%2032

ITT CEO Harold Sothenes Behn was speaking personally with Hitler on a weekly basis throughout World War II.

 http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20060119_000880.html


After the second world war ITT secured $27 million in compensation from the US government for the loss of its German factories in allied bombing, despite the fact that the factories involved were building Nazi military aircraft used to attack the allies and London during the war.

The exposure in 1972 of ITT's bribery of President Nixon aides through a leaked ITT memo led to a scandal. ITT had donated $400,000 to the Republican Party convention on condition that three cases against them for breaching laws against business monopolies (anti-trust laws) were dropped.  http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903331,00.html

The Nixon telephone tapes disclosed in the Watergate investigations show that In 1971 President Nixon ordered Deputy Attorney General Richard Kleindienst to drop a Department of Justice appeal of a corporate merger involving ITT.
LISTEN TO MP3 :  http://nixon.archives.gov/virtuallibrary/2-2-itt.mp3

The non filing of the appeal application led to the ITT merger with an insurance company going ahead despite the DOJ belief that the merger breached anti-trust laws.

In the most recent criminal case the President and CEO of ITT Louis J. Giuliano who oversaw decades of illegal export activity left his job in 2004, but soon after was rewarded with an appointment as a Governor of the US Post Office by the Bush Administration, and as a senior advisor of The Carlyle Group - an investment group closely linked to the Bush family.

However outside the protective sphere of the US political system the company has occasionally come undone. In 1981 four directors of ITT-Austria were convicted of bribery and sentenced to three years in prison  http://tinyurl.com/24g88n in a case that saw the resignation of the Austrian Finance Minister over his involvement in a lucrative and corrupt hospital building project.

In December 2007 ITT bought out EDO Corporation  http://www.edocorp.com who own a subsidiary EDO MBM Technology Ltd in Brighton, UK. http://www.edombmtech.co.uk

A four year anti-war campaign has been conducted against EDO MBM by the protest group Smash EDO  http://www.smashedo.org.uk who have vowed to continue their protest against the new parent company which is the 17th largest arms company in the world.

EDO MBM produce military equipment used by US, UK and Israeli forces used in war crimes across the Middle East.

ITT have sought to recover their brand name from the negative publicity of the scandals of the twentieth century.

Unfortunately for them they will not be allowed to forget what has been done in their name.