	paradyne pdn pleads guilty to criminal charge paradyne corp said it pleaded guilty to criminal charges of conspiracy to defraud the social security administration and agreed to pay mln dlrs in fines and costs to the u s government the company also reached agreements in principle for an mln dlr settlement of class action law suits about mln dlrs of the class action settlement will be provided by paradyne s insurance carrier the settlement is contingent on court approval after notice to class members it said the criminal case settlement dismisses all charges including bribery and false statement except for conspiracy to which paradyne pleaded guilty the criminal settlement includes the lifting of the government s suspension the dismissal of the federal civil false claims suit and all charges against the individuals of the mln dlrs the insurance carrier will provide for the civil settlement dlrs will go to settle a derivative lawsuit for the year ended december paradyne reported a net loss of mln dlrs the year end results include an mln dlrs provision for future legal and or settlement costs to cover the civil and criminal settlements announced today paradyne also said it named jerry kendall as president and chief executive officer succeeding robert wiggins who resigned as chairman and chief executive officer as part of the settlement of the indictment kendall formerly served as executive vice president and chief operating officer the company also said that due to the sluggish marketplace it does not expect to be profitable in the first quarter but is optimistic about the outlook for the year for the first quarter of the company reported net income of dlrs on sales of mln dlrs wiggins was among five paradyine executives who were charged along with three former officers in a federal indictment stemming from a mln contract awarded to paradyne in to build a computer network for the social security administration the men were accused of conspiring to bribe government officials and defaud the social security administration wiggins and other defendants were also charged with providing false testimony and obstructing justice during a securities and exchange commission investigation under the settlement announced today federal prosecutors agreed to defer all charges against wiggins and three other defendants under a one year pretrial agreement the charges would then be dropped if the defendants successfully complete the probation period details of the requirements in the agreement were not immediately available reuter 
