RTX fined $200 million for exports to China and others, US says

By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -RTX Corp will pay a $200 million fine to settle allegations that the aerospace and defense company violated export laws by exchanging data and products with prohibited countries, including China, U.S. State Department records dated Thursday said.

The fine stems from failure to abide by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations by poorly classifying and controlling exports of defense articles, including classified ones, the State Department said.

RTX voluntarily disclosed its mistakes and told investors on its July 25 earnings call that the company had set aside about $1 billion to resolve three separate legal matters "primarily identified during the integration of Rockwell Collins and Raytheon Co. into RTX."

The State Department notification released on Friday was the first of the three legal matters and included mistakenly providing intellectual property and technology to China.

One of the instances involved providing Chinese citizens information about "an aluminum display housing component of the F-22 Raptor Fighter Aircraft" in Shanghai. The information was determined to be more sensitive than the RTX employees initially believed.

"As part of the resolution of each of these three matters, we will be required to retain independent compliance monitors over the three-year term of the agreements," the company said on the earnings call. Half of the fine will be spent to fund the compliance program.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Mark Porter and Jonathan Oatis)