Jail Term Is Seen for Druyun

Darleen Druyun, the former No. 2 acquisitions official at the U.S. Air Force who admitted negotiating a job with Boeing Co. while still overseeing its contracts, probably will face six months or longer in jail, people familiar with the case said Tuesday.

The people, who asked not to be identified, said federal prosecutors were not pleased with Druyun’s cooperation under a plea agreement signed last April, which shielded her daughter from prosecution in exchange for help on the case.

Druyun’s sentencing, twice delayed already, is set for Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., but could be postponed again at the last minute, the people said.

Druyun played a major role in the early stages of a $23.5-billion Air Force plan to lease and buy 100 Boeing 767s as refueling tankers. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld put the proposal on hold in December pending a review of the Air Force’s case for acquiring the Boeing aircraft.

In November, Boeing fired Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears and Druyun, who served as the Air Force’s principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisitions from 1993 until Nov. 15, 2002, over their employment discussions. Boeing Chief Executive Phil Condit resigned a week later.

People close to the case said prosecutors probably would seek certain “upward adjustments” to the plea agreement, which would give Judge T.S. Ellis more leeway to impose a harsher prison sentence than initially expected.

Under federal law, Druyun faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, but sentencing guidelines would limit her term to no more than six months, home detention or probation.

Several people familiar with the case said, however, that prosecutors were not pleased with Druyun’s cooperation and could now seek a stiffer sentence, possibly as high as two years in jail.