Private defence company Blackwater has been fined $42m �27m for violating US export and arms traffic laws.
The nearly 300 breaches include the export of illegal weapons to Afghanistan and doing unauthorised business with Sudan.
The alleged violations were revealed by the US State Department on Monday.
The multi-million dollar settlement means that Blackwater, now known as XE Services, will be able to bid for government contracts.
No threatDealing with these security violations as an adminstrative matter allows the firm and its employees to avoid criminal charges.
The State Department said that XE Services alleged violations, while widespread, did not involve sensitive technologies or cause a known harm to national security.
The investigation covered Blackwaters business practices between 2005 and 2009.
The State Department found Blackwater guilty of numerous violations including:
- violating provisons of licences involving firearms
- unauthorised proposals to a proscribed country
- violating terms of authorisations involving military or security training
- unauthorised export of technical data
- unauthorised export of defence articles
- unauthorised exports to foreign persons
- violations involving administrative requirements
- record-keeping violations.
Because of a lack of co-operation by Blackwater, the investigation took more than two and half years to complete.
New nameBlackwater has provided security forces in almost every part of the world but the company has been mired in controversy because of reports of excessive use of force by some of its staff in Iraq.
The company was last year re-named as XE Services and is now up for sale.
XE has not commented on the settlement of this case with the State Department. But its directors have recently stressed that XE is a different company to Blackwater having implemented a number of management and procedural changes.
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