Would you pay bribes to get a piece of a $15 million contract to equip the presidential guard of an African country? According to the Justice Department, almost two dozen executives said yes, put it in writing and wrote checks — without realizing that the African officials getting the bribes were actually undercover F.B.I. agents. [...]

Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide [now known as Xe] authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials. [...] Four former [...]