Boeing to plead guilty for two 737 MAX crashes that killed hundreds

Boeing reached an agreement this Monday with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in a criminal case relating to two 737 MAX airplane accidents that killed hundreds of people.

The world's largest aerospace company reached a settlement with the federal department, agreeing to plead guilty to “conspiracy to defraud the United States” during the certification of MAX planes, according to court documents filed in Texas.

“We have reached an agreement in principle on the terms of a resolution with the Department of Justice subject to memorialization and approval of specific terms,” Boeing said in a statement sent to AFP.

Boeing will plead guilty to one count of criminal fraud stemming from 737 MAX aircraft crashes in 2018 (Indonesia) and 2019 (Ethiopia) in which 346 people died.

The agreement with which the firm would avoid going to trial, entails a second criminal fine of 244 million dollars and that the company spends 455 million in the next three years to improve its “compliance and security programs,” amounts much lower than the 24.8 billion that the victims' families claimed from Boeing.

Relatives of the victims declared themselves “very disappointed” by the agreement, according to a lawyer from the Clifford Law firm who represents them.

“Much more evidence has been presented over the past five years to show that Boeing's culture of putting profit over safety hasnt’ changed. This plea agreement only furthers that skewed corporate objective,” said attorney Robert A. Clifford in a statement.

The new agreement comes after the DOJ determined in May that Boeing ignored a January 2021 deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) by failing to abide by requirements to improve its ethics and compliance programs after the accidents.

The three-year probationary period was set to expire this year. But in January Boeing faltered again when an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a fuselage panel burst in mid-flight.