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Justice Department Says Boeing Violated Deal That Avoided Prosecution After 737 Max Crashes
Washington — Boeing has broken a settlement that let the corporation avoid criminal prosecution after two tragic disasters involving its 737 Max aircraft more than five years ago, the Justice Department told a federal judge on Tuesday.
The Justice Department will now determine whether to press charges against Boeing. The department said the prosecutors would tell the court how they wanted to proceed by July 7.
New Boeing 737 Max jets crashed in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019, killing 346 people. In January 2021, Boeing negotiated a $2.5 billion deal with the Justice Department to avoid prosecution for a single fraud charge: deceiving federal regulators who authorized the airliner. Boeing blamed the fraud on two lower-level employees.
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Justice Department Says Boeing Violated Deal That Avoided Prosecution After 737 Max Crashes
In a letter filed Tuesday in federal court in Texas, Glenn Leon, head of the Justice Department criminal division’s fraud section, said Boeing breached the settlement’s provisions by failing to implement promised reforms to detect and prevent violations of federal anti-fraud statutes.
The determination means that Boeing might be prosecuted “for any federal criminal violation of which the United States has knowledge,” including the accusation of fraud that the corporation intended to avoid with the deal, the Justice Department said.
However, it is unclear whether the government will pursue Boeing.
“The government is determining how it will proceed in this matter,” the Justice Department stated in the court document. Boeing will have until June 13 to reply to the government’s allegations, and the department has stated that it will consider the company’s explanation “in determining whether to pursue prosecution.”
Boeing Co., headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, disputed the Justice Department’s finding.
“We believe we have honored the terms of that agreement, and we look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue,” a Boeing representative stated. “As we do so, we will engage with the Department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident.”
Boeing has come under fresh criticism following an Alaska Airlines flight in January, when a door plug blew out of a 737 Max, leaving a gaping hole in the plane’s side. The corporation is being investigated for several reasons, including the blowout and production quality. The FBI informed passengers on the airplane that they could be victims of a crime.
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Justice Department Says Boeing Violated Deal That Avoided Prosecution After 737 Max Crashes
Prosecutors plan to speak with the families of passengers killed in the two Max disasters on May 31. Family members were outraged and dissatisfied after a similar gathering last month.
Paul Cassell, a lawyer who represents families of passengers in the second tragedy, said the Justice Department’s decision that Boeing violated the settlement terms is “a positive first step, and for the families, a long time coming.”
“But we need to see further action from DOJ to hold Boeing accountable, and plan to use our meeting on May 31 to explain in more details what we believe would be a satisfactory remedy to Boeing’s ongoing criminal conduct,” Cassell stated.
Investigations into the incidents pointed to a flight-control system that Boeing installed on the Max without informing pilots or airlines. Boeing minimized the system’s importance and did not revamp it until after the second tragedy.
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Justice Department Says Boeing Violated Deal That Avoided Prosecution After 737 Max Crashes
Following covert discussions, the government agreed not to prosecute Boeing for defrauding the United States by misleading authorities about its flight system. The settlement includes a $243.6 million fine, a $500 million victim compensation fund, and roughly $1.8 billion in payments to airlines whose Max jets had been grounded for nearly two years.
SOURCE – (AP)
