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Boeing (Bachelor’s) The aircraft manufacturer’s downfall seems to be getting steeper every week as it suffers multiple quality and safety issues with its aircraft.
Amid the company’s struggles, Boeing has been quietly in talks with the U.S. Justice Department about reaching a deal to face potential criminal charges stemming from two 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people, according to New report From Bloomberg.
Related: New Boeing whistleblower claims company lost faulty aircraft parts
After the deadly 2018 Lion Air crash and the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, Boeing was reportedly offered a plea deal, which families of the crash victims strongly object to, claiming it allows the company to easily get away with the deaths of their loved ones.
In what the families are calling a “plea deal,” if Boeing pleads guilty to the criminal charges, it will have to appoint a company monitor for the next three years. The company will also have to pay a fine of just $243.6 million, far less than the $25 billion the families are seeking. The deal will also spare Boeing from facing trial.
“The deal will in no way acknowledge that Boeing’s crime killed 346 people,” Paul Cassell, a lawyer representing the victims’ families, told Bloomberg. “The families will strongly object to this plea deal.”
Boeing has until the end of this week to either accept a plea deal or go to trial, Bloomberg reported, as the Justice Department has until July 7 to file criminal charges.
Boeing first dodged criminal charges over 2021 crashes
This is not the first time Boeing has been offered a way out of facing criminal prosecution over deadly plane crashes. In 2021, Boeing landed at an agreement with federal prosecutors to settle criminal charges that it misled the government about the 737 Max’s flight-control software, which allegedly contributed to the two plane crashes.
The company was required The company was ordered to pay more than $2.5 billion to settle the charges, and was also ordered to create and implement a compliance and ethics program that would prevent and detect any violations of U.S. fraud laws in its operations.
Boeing violated the agreement by failing to develop the software, and in May the Justice Department told the aircraft manufacturer it would be subject to criminal prosecution.
“Because of its failure to fully comply with the terms and obligations of the Data Processing Agreement, Boeing is subject to prosecution by the United States for any federal criminal violation of which the United States becomes aware,” the Justice Department wrote in a May 14 memo. letter To U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, who oversaw the agreement.
More about Boeing:
- Another Boeing whistleblower dies after raising safety concerns
- Boeing whistleblower says he received ‘physical threats’ over safety concerns
- Boeing accused of hiding information about retaliation against workers
Boeing has been under the federal government’s microscope since an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5 was forced to make an emergency landing after a Boeing 737 Max 9 door seal blew out mid-flight. That led the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation, which led to the company being found to have violated a 2021 agreement.
Boeing is also currently fighting a battle against lawsuit From passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight, an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and numerous allegations from whistleblowers who allege the company retaliated against them for speaking up about safety and quality control errors at its facilities.
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