(FreePressBeacon.com) – Aircraft companies are finally facing a reckoning, as the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Boeing is set to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge linked to two deadly 737 Max crashes.
This charge comes after the government found the company violated an agreement that had shielded it from prosecution for over three years.
Federal prosecutors presented Boeing with a choice this week: enter a guilty plea and pay a fine as part of its sentence or face a trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
In turn, prosecutors accused Boeing of misleading regulators who approved the airplane and pilot-training requirements.
The plea deal, which needs a federal judge’s approval, requires Boeing to pay an extra $243.6 million fine—the same amount it paid under the 2021 settlement that the DOJ said the company violated.
In addition, the plea deal only addresses Boeing’s wrongdoing before the crashes, which killed all 346 passengers and crew on two new Max jets.
A DOJ official stated the agreement does not provide Boeing immunity for other incidents, including a panel that blew off a Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The deal also does not cover any current or former Boeing officials, only the corporation.
Moreover, federal prosecutors alleged Boeing conspired to defraud the government by misleading regulators about a flight-control system implicated in the crashes in Indonesia in October 2018 and in Ethiopia less than five months later.
Under the January 2021 settlement, the DOJ said it would not prosecute Boeing if the company complied with certain conditions for three years, but prosecutors last month alleged Boeing breached those terms.
In turn, Boeing’s guilty plea will be entered in U.S. District Court in Texas.
The judge overseeing the case, who has criticized what he called “Boeing’s egregious criminal conduct,” could accept the plea and the sentence offered by prosecutors, or reject the agreement, leading to new negotiations between the DOJ and Boeing.
Therefore, relatives of the crash victims were briefed on the plea offer a week ago and said they would ask the judge to reject it.
Additionally, U.S. agencies can use a criminal conviction to bar companies from doing business with the government for a set period.
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