Longtime Austal Ltd. leader John Rothwell has described the former Austal USA president facing federal charges as “a proud man” who didn’t personally benefit from the alleged wrongdoing.

The comments were an unusually open disclosure for Austal, which has largely kept quiet on circumstances involving Craig Perciavalle and other former executives. Rothwell is a founder of Australian shipbuilder Austal Ltd., which is the parent company of Mobile-based Austal USA; he visited Mobile last week with other top executives.

Meeting with local reporters he was asked among other things about the long-running investigation of fiscal irregularities in the early years of the Littoral Combat Ship program, and its lasting impact on the company.

Austal USA began building the Independence-class LCS in 2006, ramping up into full series production after 2010. Investigators have said that as man-hours and other costs crept far over budget around 2013, Perciavalle and other top executives at Austal USA concealed the problem from higher-ups at Austal Ltd. When it came to light in 2016, Austal Ltd. had to absorb an unexpected loss, and the handling of this news provoked an investigation by the Australian Securities and Exchange Commission.

On the Australian timeline, Austal Ltd. announced in 2022 that it has resolved that investigation with a civil settlement and a $650,000 (Australian) penalty. On the Alabama side, federal agents raided Austal USA’s offices in January 2019, with neither the feds nor Austal USA willing to shed much light on why. In August, a settlement involving a $24 million fine was announced between Austal USA and the Department of Justice.

In the interim, Perciavalle resigned abruptly in February 2021, and in March 2023 he and two other executives were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

Perciavalle, along with former financial analysis director Joseph Runkel and former LCS program director William O. Adams, have entered pleas of not guilty. They also recently filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, arguing it was filed outside the applicable statute of limitations. Should the case continue to trial, that appears unlikely to occur before the second half of 2025.

On Wednesday, Rothwell professed himself to be a little nonplussed by the tag-team prosecution by Australian and U.S. authorities. “It was a little bewildering for me,” he said.

“Of course it’s damaging and it’s very worrying,” he said. “By the same token I personally didn’t have, I didn’t feel bad about it. We made a mistake, our president at the time made a mistake. He didn’t benefit from it though. But nevertheless, it was a corporate mistake.”

Rothwell depicted Perciavalle as a businessman who was losing ground early in the LCS process but who aimed to regain it as the program got up to speed and became more efficient.

“It was a mistake,” Rothwell said. “It shouldn’t have been made but the president didn’t gain from it to my knowledge whatsoever. He was a proud man trying to achieve the goals that he’d set for himself in getting these ships built. His optimism of being able to claw back the hours that he’d lost was too great.”

A request for comment from Perciavalle’s attorneys was pending as this story was published.