Ex-Boeing employee admits to being source

Gerald Eastman, the former Boeing employee on trial for alleging stealing company secrets, admitted on the stand Monday that he was the source for Seattle Times business reporter Dominic Gates and showed him documents.

Andrea James, a reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, wrote, “Eastman later testified that he did not give concession information to The Times, ‘because it was my intention not to hurt Boeing in any way or release any info that would hurt Boeing.’

“Eastman told the jury that he needed to access Boeing documents to expose that the Chicago-based company did not do a thorough job of inspecting planes in production.

“While working as a quality assurance inspector in Tukwila, he wrote to Boeing management, the Federal Aviation Administration and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell about what he viewed as fraud in Boeing’s airplane production.

“Eastman said he was building up a relationship with Gates to prepare him for a larger story on inspections.”

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