FORMER CEO OF L&T SEALS, INC., CONVICTED
OF CONSPIRACY, OBSTRUCTION, AND LYING TO A GRAND JURY

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division announced today that Clarence T. Brandenburg, former chief executive officer and head of quality assurance of now-defunct L&T Seals, Inc. (L&T Seals), of Galena, Kansas, has been convicted on all counts of a three-count indictment charging with him with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and falsely testifying before the grand jury in connection with a product substitution scheme in which L&T Seals sold defective and substandard O-rings and seals used in military aircraft to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Brandenburg was convicted yesterday, following a seven-day jury trial in Wichita, Kansas.

The jury convicted Brandenburg of conspiring with his wife, Elesa L. Brandenburg, former president of L&T Seals, and others to obstruct the criminal investigation into a product substitution case involving defective O-rings and of lying to the grand jury about the destruction of business records subpoenaed by the grand jury. Brandenburg falsely represented to the government and falsely testified before the grand jury that documents had been destroyed in a flood. In fact, Brandenburg knowingly burned the records.

The investigation began when the defective O-rings caused fuel to leak from the engines of C-130s and B1 bombers into their weapons bays.

Previously, co-defendant Elesa Brandenburg and her daughter, Shannon J. Sofia, pleaded guilty and were sentenced. Elesa Brandenburg, who pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to obstruct justice and destroy subpoenaed records, was sentenced on Sept. 22, 2003 to 15 months’ incarceration and three years’ supervised release. The sentence runs concurrently with her December 2001 sentence of 30 months’ imprisonment and payment of $421,606.99 in restitution, jointly with L&T Seals, on her guilty plea, along with L&T Seals, to one count of mail fraud in connection with the product substitution scheme. Sofia, who pleaded guilty in April 2003 to willfully making false statements, was sentenced on July 7 to one year of probation.

The cases were prosecuted by Fraud Section Trial Attorney Peter B. Loewenberg. The investigation was conducted by the Special Agent Ronald Barker of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Wichita, and Postal Inspector Steve Hamilton of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

###

03-583