The prosecutions were not about high prices, they were about an Air Force procurement official and a Boeing official who knowingly broke laws designed to protect the integrity of the acquisition process. And they both went to jail for their acts.
I can’t fault a company for trying to make as much money as possible on a deal, especially when the deal involves the US government and its notoriously fickle procurement procedures and votes. We are often faced with situations, especially in military procurement and construction, in which the officers are given an unrealistic price by the representatives for something the officers know they need, and the contractor has to submit an unprofitable bid knowing that he will make it up on add ons and amendments. The fact that some people in congress have really stupid ideas about what things cost is beyond question.
I see bid rigging as a fairly simple process. One bidder conspires to eliminate competitive bids by subterfuge - falsely claiming that the competitor’s bid was inadequate, submitted late, etc. I don’t know enough about this case to pronounce what happened, but I do know that anyone with a calculator can analyze a bid and determine the actual cost. Bidding law is complex and often silly. What were the specifics of the criminal charges? Maybe I’m being naive.
Starwolf - plenty of indictments have been ignored for less than this, and plenty of people have got not guilty verdicts for more. Think of Murtha and Abscam and McCain and Keating.