According to reports, Boeing has consented to enter a guilty plea to a charge of criminal fraud conspiracy in order to avoid going to trial in relation to the Justice Department’s investigation into two fatal 737 MAX aircraft crashes.
The criminal case stems from two 737 MAX airliner crashes that occurred in Ethiopia and Indonesia in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The relatives of the dead have demanded that Boeing be held accountable for these incidents.
“We can confirm that we have reached an agreement in principle on terms of a resolution with the Justice Department, subject to the memorialization and approval of specific terms,” a spokesperson for Boeing told FOX Business.
A DOJ official told Reuters that in addition to the $243.6 million that Boeing paid after the DOJ claimed the company had violated a 2021 settlement by failing to comply with certain conditions set forth in the settlement, the plea deal also includes a $243.6 million criminal fine, which, if accepted, would make the plane manufacturer a convicted felon.
The DOJ told Reuters that the deal only covers the company and does not apply to any current or former Boeing officials and that charges against any individuals are unlikely due to the statute of limitations.
Boeing was given the choice by federal prosecutors to face trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiring to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration over a software feature connected to the deadly crashes or to enter a guilty plea and pay a fine.
According to Reuters, an attorney representing a few of the families called the plea agreement a “sweetheart deal” and stated they would fight it in court.
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