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Ex-Texaco exec charged
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November 19, 1996: 1:03 p.m. ET
Exec who recorded controversial tapes faces obstruction counts
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Federal officials on Tuesday charged former Texaco executive Richard Lundwall on one count of obstruction of justice in connection with the Texaco Inc. racial-bias case.
Lundwall is the executive who secretly tape recorded Texaco corporate meetings in which company officials allegedly made racist remarks.
Authorities arraigned Lundwall in White Plains, N.Y., federal court on Tuesday.
The complaint against Lundwall charges that he participated in shredding portions of Texaco's so-called "Master Book."
An affidavit accompanying the indictment quoted an FBI agent as saying Lundwall admitted to plaintiffs' lawyers in the race-bias suit that he participated in destruction of documents relevant to the discrimination case.
Ironically, Lundwall helped plaintiffs tremendously in the case.
In 1994, he secretly made an audio tape of a meeting in which Texaco executives allegedly made racial slurs and discussed destruction of documents.
Lundwall says he originally made the tape to ensure accurate minutes of the meeting.
But after Texaco let Lundwall go earlier this year, he turned the tape over to plaintiffs lawyers.
They, in turn, included an alleged transcript of the tape in court papers later picked up by the media, sparking a firestorm of bad publicity for Texaco.
In the face of threatened boycotts from civil-rights groups, Texaco last week settled the discrimination suit for some $176 million.
Texaco agreed to pay $115 million to current and former employees covered by the suit, along with a one-time salary increase of about 11 percent, or about $26 million for current employees.
The oil giant will also spend $35 million on diversity training and sensitivity programs.
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