The Epoch Times reported on July 8 that Boeing and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have reached an agreement on a guilty plea and an additional $244 million fine to be paid by Boeing in response to the charge of defrauding the U.S. government over the deadly 737 MAX 8 crashes in 2018-2019. The Alaska Air door incident in January 2024 constituted a safety violation of Boeing’s original “deferred prosecution” agreement of 2021. The currently proposed plea deal and fine, if accepted by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, would allow Boeing to avoid a criminal trial in a conclusion to this case.
However, Judge O’Connor could choose to reject the plea deal and send it back for more negotiations. Ideally, further plea deal negotiations would fall apart and result in a criminal trial.
The Epoch Times noted that the family members of the MAX 8 crash victims have “pushed for a criminal trial to potentially reveal what Boeing insiders could have known” about the underlying issues. This is an important point. The 2021 DOJ charge against Boeing did not address the root cause and full scope of the MAX crashes. The reopening of this case introduces a final opportunity for further investigation and application of justice.
The DOJ’s charge of fraudulent activity focused narrowly on Boeing’s withholding of information about the disastrous Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) control system within the 737 MAX design, rather than the circumstances that drove its development. As well, the charge called out “two …
