Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the US government after the company violated an agreement with the Department of Justice related to two deadly crashes of its 737 Max aircraft, prosecutors said in a court document on Sunday.
The American aircraft manufacturer faces a fine of $487.2 million, the maximum possible amount under the law, according to a justice official. Boeing is expected to pay half of this sum, subject to court approval, as the company has already paid $243.6 million in this matter.
The official emphasized that the proposed agreement does not include immunity for individual employees, including executives. It only pertains to misconduct that preceded the crashes of the 737 Max and does not protect Boeing from other misconduct, such as the incident aboard an Alaska Airlines flight this year.
Boeing confirmed that it had "reached a basic agreement on the terms of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
Here is the translation of the heading to English:
"An attorney for the families of the 346 victims of the 737 Max crashes — off the coast of Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia in 2019 — described the agreement as a 'cozy deal' that does not hold Boeing accountable. Following the crashes, the airplane remained grounded worldwide for almost two years.
The comparative deal... forces Boeing to make unfair concessions that would never be granted to other defendants," the families argued in a court document. "As a result, the generous agreement is based on misleading and insulting premises.
As part of the proposed agreement, Boeing must invest at least $455 million over the next three years to improve compliance and safety programs and collaborate with an independent compliance monitor selected by the Department of Justice. There is no cap on potential compensation that a court could award to the families of the victims.
The criminal conviction could impair Boeing's ability to secure U.S. defense contracts, which are an important pillar of its business.
The Ministry of Justice offered Boeing the settlement last week as an alternative to a criminal trial.
The company was sued in 2021 and admitted to misleading the Federal Aviation Administration about the flight control software of the 737 Max. This software could be mistakenly activated and push the nose of the aircraft downward.
After this indictment, the Department of Justice refrained from prosecution and agreed to drop the charges as long as Boeing adhered to a compliance program established after the crashes.
Here's the translation of the given text:
"This year, however, justice officials informed Boeing that the company had violated the previous agreement after a door panel fell off an aircraft during a commercial flight in January. Boeing denied violating the agreement.
Boeing paid a total of $2.5 billion as part of the 2021 agreement, of which $244 million was designated for fines. An additional $500 million was deposited into a fund for the families of the crash victims, while the majority of the payment went to airlines that are customers of the company.
The families of the victims continue to fight Boeing and the Department of Justice in federal court in Texas. In October 2022, Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that the families are legally recognized as crime victims, a status that obligates the Department of Justice to consult with them.
O'Connor must now decide whether this 'no-responsibility deal' is in the public interest, said Paul Cassell, a lawyer representing the families.
He stated that the families would ask the judge "to reject this inappropriate settlement and simply set the matter for a public trial so that all the facts surrounding the case can be disclosed.
