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WILLBROS GETS BRIBERY PROSECUTION DEFERRED
WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 14, 2008

Willbros Group Inc. and a unit, Willbros International, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement to settle allegations that the company paid $6 million in bribes to Nigerian government officials.

As part of the agreement, the companies accepted responsibility for their employees who violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $22 million.

The Department of Justice agreed to defer prosecution of the companies for three years and the companies agreed to retain for a period of three years an independent compliance monitor to assess the company's implementation of and compliance with new internal policies and procedures.

If Willbros Group and Willbros International abide by the terms of the agreement, the Department will dismiss the information when the term of the agreement ends.

At the same time, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today settled an enforcement action against Willbros Group and four employees. The company will pay $10.3 million to settle the SEC action.

Willbros Group was represented before the SEC by William Baker of Latham & Watkins and before the Justice Department by Robert Tarun of Baker & McKenzie.

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LOCKHEED MARTIN UNIT TO PAY $10.5 MILLION TO SETTLE FALSE CLAIMS ACT CASE
WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 12, 2008

Lockheed Martin Space Systems, a Denver-based unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation, will pay $10.5 million to settle allegations that it submitted invoices for payment it was not entitled to receive on a multi-billion dollar contract connected to the Titan IV space launch vehicle program.

After an October 2004 audit by the Defense Contract Audit Agency into the contract to provide launch vehicles and services for the Titan IV program, Lockheed conducted an internal audit and discovered that it should not have requested certain interim payments – known as progress payments – from the federal government.

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SENATOR PRYOR TO HOLD HEARING ON NHTSA ROOF CRUSH STANDARD
WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 7, 2008

The federal safety agency is about to pull the trigger on a new roof crush standard.

And Senator Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) is not at all happy with it.

He has scheduled hearings on the issue for June 4.

Pryor is chair of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety.

The current roof crush standard requires the roof to support 1.5 times the weight of the vehicle.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) new proposed standard would require roofs to support 2.5 times the weight of the vehicle.

Auto safety critics say such a standard won’t do the job – that 75 percent of automobiles currently on the road could meet the 2.5 standard.

They are calling for a standard that would require roofs to support at least four times the weight of the vehicle.

And they are outraged because the auto industry has slipped into the proposed standard a provision that would preempt state product liability tort law if the automaker meets the new standard.

“This is a terrible provision,” said Byron Bloch, an auto safety design consultant based in Potomac, Maryland. “This is treachery by the auto companies and NHTSA. The proposed preemption rule would deprive car crash victims of their rights to pursue justice and compensation – to present their case in court to a jury.”

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