DOJ says Boeing violated agreement that avoided prosecution

(WASHINGTON) – Boeing violated an agreement that allowed the company to avoid criminal prosecution following two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max aircraft, the Justice Department told a federal judge Tuesday.

It is now up to the Justice Department to decide whether to bring charges against the aircraft manufacturer, amid growing scrutiny over the safety of its planes. Prosecutors will tell the court by July 7 how they plan to proceed, the Justice Department said.

Boeing reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department in January 2021 to avoid prosecution over a single count of fraud — misleading regulators who approved the 737 Max. Boeing blamed two relatively low-level employees by deception.

The manufacturing giant has come under renewed scrutiny since a door panel exploded on a 737 Max jet during a flight. Alaska Airlines flight in January. The company is under multiple investigationsand the FBI told passengers on the flight that they may be victims of a crime.

Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Glenn Leon, chief of the fraud section of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in the letter filed in Texas federal court that Boeing made no changes to prevent it from violating federal anti-fraud laws — a condition of the 2021 settlement.

The ruling means Boeing could be sued “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 Department of Defense said. Justice.

However, it is unclear whether the government will sue 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 time coming.”

“But we need to see more action from the DOJ 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 resolution to Boeing’s ongoing criminal conduct,” Cassell said.

Investigations into the 2018 It is 2019 the accidents pointed to a flight control system that Boeing added to the Max without informing pilots or airlines. Boeing downplayed the importance of the system and only revised it after the second accident.

The Justice Department investigated Boeing and resolved the case in January 2021. After secret negotiations, the government agreed not to prosecute Boeing on charges of defrauding the United States by misleading regulators who approved the plane.

In return, the company paid $2.5 billion — a $243.6 million fine, a $500 million victim compensation fund and nearly $1.8 billion to the airlines whose Max jets were grounded. .

Boeing faced civil lawsuits, Congressional investigations and massive damage to its business since the accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia.