Crash victims’ families say U.S. judge should reject Boeing’s plea deal

Relatives of 15 of the 346 people killed in two fatal 737 MAX crashes should reject a “sweetheart” plea deal the Justice Department reached with Boeing Co. BA, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor said Thursday. The planemaker finalized a deal late Wednesday to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and pay at least $243.6 million after violating a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. The Boeing families said in a court filing in Texas that they will file a comprehensive objection to the plea deal by next week, arguing that it has numerous problems, including “outdated and misleading statements of fact,” the use of “inaccurate sentencing guidelines” and Boeing’s “ambiguous promises of restitution.” The families cited O’Connor’s statement in his February 2023 ruling that “Boeing’s crimes can properly be viewed as the deadliest corporate crimes in American history.” Spokesmen for Boeing and the Justice Department declined to comment on the families’ request. The Justice Department told Boeing earlier this month that it could accept a settlement that labels the plane maker a felon or fight the case in court. The Justice Department said in May that Boeing violated a deferred prosecution agreement that protects the plane maker from criminal prosecution for misrepresenting a key software feature linked to fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019. The plane maker allowed potentially risky work to take place at its factories and failed to ensure critical aircraft recordkeeping was accurate or complete, the Justice Department said in outlining why it believes Boeing violated a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. Boeing agreed in principle on July 7 to plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration because the government said the plane maker knowingly made false statements about key software for the 737 MAX. The Justice Department is conducting a separate criminal investigation into an Alaska Airlines plane that was missing four key bolts. The plea agreement raises serious concerns among victims’ families, who question the “unclear calculation” of the fine and the company’s failure to admit that its crimes caused 346 deaths, the attorneys said in Thursday’s filing.
As part of the plea deal, Boeing agreed to pay the maximum fine of $487.2 million, and the Justice Department recommended that the court offset the $243.6 million fine Boeing previously paid in 2021, which was required by the 2021 agreement. The agreement reached this month also provides for an independent monitor who must publicly file annual progress reports to monitor the company’s compliance.The families argued that O’Connor, not the Justice Department, should have chosen the independent monitor. The Justice Department broke precedent in the agreement by explicitly stating that it, not Boeing, would choose the company.