Boeing pleads guilty to avoid criminal trial for 2 crashes; victims’ families unhappy

Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge arising out of two deadly crashes of 737 Max jetliners which killed 346 passengers and crew members, but families of the victims are not pleased.

The company agreed to this after the government determined that it violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years, the US Justice Department said on Sunday (July 7) night.

Federal prosecutors gave Boeing the option of entering a guilty plea and paying a fine as part of its sentence or facing a trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the US.

Cheating regulators

The American aerospace giant was accused of deceiving regulators who approved the airplane and pilot-training requirements for it.

The plea deal, which has to get the approval of a federal judge to take effect, asks Boeing to pay an additional $243.6 million fine.

That was the same amount it paid under a 2021 settlement the Justice Department said the company breached.

Overseeing safety

An independent monitor would be named to oversee Boeing's safety and quality procedures for three years.

The plea deal covers only wrongdoing by Boeing before the crashes, which killed all 346 passengers and crew members aboard two new Max jets – one in Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia in 2019.

It does not give Boeing immunity for other incidents including a panel that blew off a Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January this year, a Justice Department official said.

Guilty, criminal trial

The deal also does not cover any current or former Boeing officials, only the corporation.

By pleading guilty, Boeing will be able to avoid a criminal trial, which the victims’ families have been insisting on.

The families blasted the agreement as a “sweetheart deal” that would let Boeing avoid full responsibility for the deaths.

Unhappy families

Media reports quoted Paul Cassell, a lawyer representing some of the families, as saying: "The memory of 346 innocents killed by Boeing demands more justice than this."

Federal prosecutors alleged that Boeing committed conspiracy to defraud the government by misleading regulators about a flight-control system that was implicated in the two crashes.

Breached conditions

As part of a January 2021 settlement, the Justice Department said it would not prosecute Boeing on the charge if the company complied with certain conditions for three years.

Prosecutors last month alleged Boeing had breached the terms of that agreement.