Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges related to two fatal crashes involving its 737 MAX jetliners, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. In a court filing Sunday night.
In the settlement, which must be approved by a federal judge, Boeing agreed to pay a $487.2 million fine and invest at least $455 million in safety and compliance programs, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The deal was filed just hours before a deadline for Boeing to respond to the offer and avoid a criminal trial. Boeing confirmed to The Hill that the deal had been reached but declined to comment further.
This comes about two months after the Department of Justice determined that Boeing violated a 2021 settlement related to two crashes of Boeing’s 737 Max jetliner in 2018 and 2019. The crashes killed 346 people.
Prosecutors alleged that Boeing conspired to mislead regulators and defraud the government about a flight-control system linked to the crash in 2021. Under the 2021 settlement, the Justice Department agreed not to prosecute Boeing for three years over the crashes, but found in May that the company had violated the terms of the agreement.
In addition to the fines and investment requirements, Boeing will also face independent oversight of its safety and quality procedures over the next three years.
The plea agreement only covers Boeing’s misconduct before the crashes and does not grant the company immunity from liability for other accidents or cover any current or former Boeing executives, according to the filing.
The Hill has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.
Paul Cassell, an attorney for 15 of the victims’ families, told The Hill that some of the families challenged the settlement in court on Sunday, alleging that the plea deal constituted “unfair concessions that other criminal defendants would never get.”
The filing added that the settlement “fails to hold Boeing responsible for the 346 people who died in the two crashes.”
“This special agreement fails to recognize that Boeing’s conspiracy resulted in the deaths of 346 people. The deadly consequences of Boeing’s crimes are covered up by Boeing and the Department of Justice’s slick lawyering,” Cassell said.
Casell asked the judge to throw out the deal as “against the public interest” to pave the way for a public trial.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun was grilled by senators about the settlement and other safety concerns at a Homeland Security subcommittee hearing last month, during which he apologized to the families of the crash victims.
“On behalf of everyone at Boeing, I personally apologize and am deeply saddened by your loss. Nothing is more important than the safety of the people who fly on our aircraft, and every day we strive to honor the memory of those we lost through our unwavering commitment to safety and quality,” Calhoun said.
The next day, a group of family members sent a letter to the Department of Justice urging federal prosecutors to pursue “aggressive criminal prosecutions” against the plane maker.
Boeing came under national scrutiny last January after a door blew off of a 737 Max 9 jet in flight, blowing a hole in the side of the plane and forcing pilots to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport in Oregon.
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all 737 MAX 9 planes and launched an investigation into the manufacturer after Boeing was found to have had problems with safety inspections and manufacturing processes, and it came under increasing pressure from regulators and Congress to address the issues.
Aviation lawyer Mark Lindquist, who represented dozens of families of the victims in the two fatal crashes as well as the 31 passengers on board the planes, said Boeing’s guilty plea was “inevitable.”
He argued that a trial would expose Boeing’s “negligence, misconduct and taint,” adding that it was important the company “will no longer sacrifice safety for profit.”
“The company’s next steps [Boeing] “This sentence should include accepting full responsibility in the civil lawsuit and fully complying with the terms of the guilty plea,” Lindquist told The Hill. “Many of us would like to see Boeing refocus on quality and return to its former greatness.”
Updated 3:42 p.m.
