AFP – More than five years after two fatal 737 MAX crashes, Boeing faces a fresh legal reckoning now that prosecutors have concluded the company flouted an earlier settlement addressing the disasters.
The aviation giant had been on a Friday night deadline to accept or reject a Department of Justice (DOJ) proposal that would require it to plead guilty to fraud during the certification of MAX airplanes, sources told AFP.
There had been no public comment either way by the evening, and a lawyer for the families of the 737 crash victims Robert Clifford told AFP that he believed the deadline would be extended over the weekend if Boeing asked for more time.
Boeing’s latest legal predicament was triggered by a DOJ determination in mid-May that the company ignored a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) by not meeting requirements to improve its compliance and ethics programme after the MAX crashes.
Under a proposal presented by the DOJ to families of MAX crash victims, Boeing would pay an additional USD243 million penalty and agree to have an external monitor, said attorney Tracy Brammeier at Clifford Law who represents families of MAX victims.
“The guilty plea is significant. No one wants to be a convicted or admitted felon,” said Brammeier, who nonetheless described family members as dissatisfied with the proposal.
The DOJ has said it will notify a United States court on how it will proceed no later than today, with the agency expected to announce steps to prosecute Boeing should the company reject the settlement.
The original DPA was announced in January 2021 near the end of the Trump administration over charges that Boeing knowingly defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration during the certification of the MAX.
The agreement required Boeing to pay USD2.5 billion in fines and restitution in exchange for immunity from criminal prosecution.
A three-year probationary period was set to expire this year. But in January, Boeing was plunged back into crisis mode when a 737 MAX flown by Alaska Airlines was forced to make an emergency landing after a fuselage panel blew out mid-flight.
