SEATTLE (AP) — Federal prosecutors say that for decades, the Navy’s leading supplier of high-strength steel for submarines provided subpar metal because one of the company’s longtime employees falsified lab results.

The Justice Department said Monday the supplier, Kansas City-based Bradken Inc., paid $10.9 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. The company provides steel castings made at a foundry in Tacoma that are used to make submarine hulls.

Prosecutors say Bradken discovered the fraud in 2017 but failed to fully disclose its scope to the Navy. The foundry’s lab director also has been charged.