WASHINGTON: The Justice Department has reached a deal with Boeing that will allow the airplane giant to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading US regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and killed 346 people, according to court papers filed Friday.
\nUnder the \u201cagreement in principle,\u201d which still needs to be finalized, Boeing would pay or invest more than $1.1 billion, including an additional $445 million for the crash victims\u2019 families, the Justice Department said.
\nIn return, the department has agreed to dismiss the fraud charge against Boeing, allowing the manufacturer to avoid a possible criminal conviction that could have jeopardized the company\u2019s status as a federal contractor, according to experts.
\n\u201cUltimately, in applying the facts, the law, and Department policy, we are confident that this resolution is the most just outcome with practical benefits,\u201d a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement.
\n\u201cNothing will diminish the victims\u2019 losses, but this resolution holds Boeing financially accountable, provides finality and compensation for the families and makes an impact for the safety of future air travelers.\u201d
\nBoeing on Friday declined to comment.
\nSome relatives of the passengers who died in the crashes, which took place off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, have been pushing for a public trial, the prosecution of former company officials, and more severe financial punishment for Boeing. The Justice Department noted that the victims\u2019 families had mixed views on the proposed deal.
\n\u201cThis kind of non-prosecution deal is unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in US history,\u201d said Paul Cassell, an attorney for many of the families in the long-running case. \u201cMy families will object and hope to convince the court to reject it.\u201d
\nJavier de Luis, whose sister, Graziella, died in the Ethiopia crash, said the Justice Department is walking away \u201cfrom any pretense to seek justice for the victims of the 737Max crashes.\u201d
\n\u201cThe message sent by this action to companies around the country is, don\u2019t worry about making your products safe for your customers,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cEven if you kill them, just pay a small fine and move on.\u201d
\nBoeing was accused of misleading the Federal Aviation Administration about aspects of the Max before the agency certified the plane for flight. Boeing did not tell airlines and pilots about a new software system, called MCAS, that could turn the plane\u2019s nose down without input from pilots if a sensor detected that the plane might go into an aerodynamic stall.
\nThe Max planes crashed after a faulty reading from the sensor pushed the nose down and pilots were unable to regain control. After the second crash, Max jets were grounded worldwide until the company redesigned MCAS to make it less powerful and to use signals from two sensors, not just one.
\nThe Justice Department charged Boeing in 2021 with deceiving FAA regulators about the software, which did not exist in older 737s, and about how much training pilots would need to fly the plane safely. The department agreed not to prosecute Boeing at the time, however, if the company paid a $2.5 billion settlement, including the $243.6 million fine, and took steps to comply with anti-fraud laws for three years.
\nFederal prosecutors, however, last year said Boeing violated the terms of the 2021 agreement by failing to make promised changes to detect and prevent violations of federal anti-fraud laws. Boeing agreed last July to plead guilty to the felony fraud charge instead of enduring a potentially lengthy public trial.
\nBut in December, US District Judge Reed O\u2019Connor in Fort Worth rejected the plea deal. The judge said the diversity, inclusion and equity, or DEI, policies in the government and at Boeing could result in race being a factor in picking a monitor to oversee Boeing\u2019s compliance with the agreement.
\nThe plea deal had called for an independent monitor to be named to oversee Boeing\u2019s safety and quality procedures for three years. Under the agreement announced Friday, Boeing must retain an \u201cindependent compliance consultant\u201d who will make recommendations for \u201cfurther improvement\u201d and report back to the government, according to court papers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON: The Justice Department has reached a deal with Boeing that will allow the airplane giant to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading US regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and killed 346 people, according to court papers filed Friday. Under the \u201cagreement in principle,\u201d which still needs to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":81559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81560,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81534\/revisions\/81560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}