Boeing could face criminal prosecution over two fatal 737 Max crashes after being accused of violating an agreement that allowed them to avoid previous charges.
The Justice Department will decide whether to file charges, amid growing scrutiny over the safety of the company’s planes, by July 7.
Boeing reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department in January 2021 after two 737 Max planes crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.
The deal allowed Boeing to avoid prosecution on a single count of fraud (misleading regulators who approved the 737 Max), but set out certain terms that Boeing had to comply with for the next three years.
The Justice Department alleges that Boeing has since breached the 2021 agreement, exposing itself to criminal prosecution.
Boeing reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department in January 2021 after two 737 Max planes crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.
Glenn Leon, chief of the fraud section of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a letter filed in federal court in Texas that Boeing made no changes to prevent it from violating federal anti-fraud laws, a condition of the 2021 deal.
The department claims that Boeing failed to “design, implement and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of United States fraud laws,” according to NBC.
Boeing could be prosecuted “for any federal criminal violation of which the United States is aware,” including the fraud charge the company hoped to avoid with the $2.5 billion settlement, the Justice Department said.
However, it is unclear whether the government will prosecute the manufacturing giant.
“The Government is determining how it will proceed in this matter,” the Justice Department said in the court filing. Prosecutors said they will meet with the families of the crash victims on May 31.
Paul Cassell, a lawyer representing the families of passengers who died in the Max crash in Ethiopia, called it a “positive first step, and for the families, a long road ahead.”
“But we need to see more action by the Department of Justice to hold Boeing accountable, and we plan to use our May 31 meeting to explain in more detail what we believe would be a satisfactory remedy for Boeing’s ongoing criminal conduct,” Cassell said. .
Research on the 2018 and 2019 The crashes pointed to a flight control system that Boeing added to the Max without notifying pilots or airlines.
Boeing downplayed the importance of the system and did not review it until after the second accident.
The Department of Justice investigated Boeing and resolved the case in January 2021.
After secret negotiations, the government agreed not to prosecute Boeing for defrauding the United States by misleading regulators who approved the plane.
In exchange, the company paid $2.5 billion: a $243.6 million fine, a $500 million fund for compensation to victims, and nearly $1.8 billion to the airlines whose Max planes were grounded.
Boeing has faced civil lawsuits, congressional investigations and massive damage to their business since the accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
The family members filed a motion arguing that the U.S. government “lied and violated their rights through a secret process” by allowing Boeing to escape criminal charges.
It will be the fourth meeting between the Justice Department and the families, some of whom are seen here in 2019, of those who died in the two 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.
Rescuers work at the scene of the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 flight near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 11, 2019.
This photo taken at the Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta on October 30, 2018 shows Indonesians examining the wreckage of the ill-fated Lion Air flight JT 610 in Jakarta.
Mark Lindquist, a lawyer representing several victims’ families, told ABC: “Procedurally, I think they probably have enough evidence to show that Boeing violated the DPA.”
‘In plain language, the main point of a deferred processing agreement is this: not to make mistakes again.
Boeing was wrong again. The blowout of the Max 9 door stopper is just one example.
Robert Clifford, a lawyer representing the families, also told the outlet: ‘The Department of Justice has been very opaque in revealing to the families how they will make the compliance or non-compliance determination.
‘This has been a very disappointing feature of the department’s contact and communication with families.
But, to be fair to the department, prosecutors rarely discuss the details of their investigations, so this is not something out of the ordinary.’
As part of the deferred prosecution agreement, Boeing test pilot Mark Forkner was the only person criminally charged in the two 737 MAX crashes.
Relatives hold photos of victims of the Boeing 737 MAX crash as they wait for Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg to testify before a Senate hearing in Washington, Oct. 29, 2019.
Nadia Milleron, whose daughter Samya Stuno died in the Boeing 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia on March 10, 2019, speaks during a memorial protest outside the Boeing offices in Arlington, Virginia, on March 10, 2023.
In March 2022, a Texas jury found him not guilty of misleading federal regulators in evaluating the company’s 737 MAX aircraft.
Prosecutors accused Forkner of misleading Federal Aviation Administration regulators about the amount of training pilots would need to fly the Max.
The FAA required only brief computer training for pilots rather than more extensive simulator practice that could have cost Boeing up to $1 million per plane.
Defense attorneys said Boeing engineers did not inform Forkner about changes to the flight software, known by its acronym MCAS.
In the two crashes, in Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia in 2019, MCAS automatically pointed the plane’s nose down based on faulty sensor readings, and the pilots were unable to regain control.
On October 29, 2018, the Boeing 737 MAX operating Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 passengers and crew.
Five months later, on March 10, 2019, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft operating Ethiopian Flight 302 crashed near the city of Bishoftu, Ethiopia, six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board.
Chief Executive David Calhoun, who will step down at the end of the year, has said many times that Boeing is taking steps to improve its manufacturing quality and safety culture.
The company has been in crisis mode since a door plug panel exploded on a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, as seen here.
Boeing’s share prices have fallen nearly 10 percent to $173.86 over the past six months as more safety concerns have come to light.
The company has been in crisis since a door plug panel exploded on a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
Researchers focus on four screws which were removed and apparently not replaced during repair work at the Boeing factory.
The company faces a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice and separate investigations by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
CEO David Calhoun, who lower As of the end of the year, he has said numerous times that Boeing is taking steps to improve its manufacturing quality and safety culture.
He called the Alaska plane explosion a “defining moment” from which a better Boeing will emerge. There is a lot of skepticism about comments like that.
