Lockheed subsidiary dishes out $4.8M to settle illegal lobbying claims

Sandia Corp. has agreed to pay $4.8 million to settle claims that the company used taxpayer money to lobby congress to extend its contract to manage the Sandia National Laboratories, Federal Times is reporting.

The company, which is owned by Lockheed Martin, came under investigation after an inspector general report showed that the company used federal funds to launch lobbyists to extend the facility management contract at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., after it expired in 2012, Federal Times said.

The documents that the inspector general recovered revealed a strategy to influence congressmen and federal officials. Using federal funds for such purposes is illegal, Federal Times reported.