Blackwater admits to facts behind 17 federal charges

Academi LLC (formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide) will pay a $7.5 million fine in order to settle U.S. federal charges against them over arms trafficking.

This fine is to pay for 17 of what the U.S. Justice Department calls "violations" reports BBC News, Al Jazeera and the Irish Independent. According to Thomas Walker, a prosecutor in North Carolina the case brought to light "an array of criminal allegations," some of which involved "the manufacture and shipment of short-barrelled rifles, fully automatic weapons, armoured helicopters, and armoured personnel carriers." Violations include possession of automatic weapons without registration in the U.S, giving Denmark and Sweden classified information regarding armoured personnel carriers without the approval of the U.S. federal government and lying to federal firearms regulators about the weapons provided to the king of Jordan. By paying this $7.5 million fine Academi will not face prosecution over these violations once they meet auditing requirements and follow export restrictions in the future. Special agent in charge of the Charlotte Division of the FBI Chris Briese said that "for an extended period of time, Academi/Blackwater operated in a manner which demonstrated systemic disregard for US government laws and regulations. Today's announcement should serve as a warning to others that allegations of wrongdoing will be aggressively investigated." "ACADEMI is pleased to reach this important agreement on this legacy matter. It is yet another step in our commitment to fairly resolve past issues and become the industry leader in governance, compliance, and regulatory matters," Academi's spokesman John Procter stated.