Blackwater Settles With US for $42M

No stranger to controversy, Blackwater has settled a laundry list of transgressions with the State Department to the tune of $42 million. The deal treats violations—which include illegally exporting weapons to Afghanistan and offering to train Sudanese troops without authorization—as an administrative matter, and allows Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, to continue receiving federal contracts.

The company, having been booted out of Iraq, still has contracts to provide security for the CIA and State Department in Afghanistan. But $42 million won't buy Xe its way out of a plethora of other charges facing its execs and other employees, notes the New York Times.