Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge to resolve a US Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation linked to two 737 MAX fatal crashes.
Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge in an investigation linked to two fatal 737 MAX crashes.Judge Reed O'Connor still needs to assess the guilty plea agreement and decide whether the plane maker should pay additional restitution to the crash victims' families.
The Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System is a software feature designed to automatically push the airplane's nose down in certain conditions.The Lion Air pilots in the first crash did not know about flight-control software that could push the nose of the plane down without their input. The department agreed not to prosecute Boeing at the time, however, if the company paid a $US2.5 billion settlement — including a $US243.6 million fine — and took steps to comply with anti-fraud laws for three years.
Pilots landed the 737 MAX safely and no one was seriously injured, but the incident led to closer scrutiny of the company. The DOJ and Boeing are working to document the full written plea agreement and file it in federal court in Texas by July 19, the DOJ said in their court filing. It will also make it easier for the company, expected to hire a new CEO later this year, to move forward as it seeks approval for its planned acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems.
The court filing revealed DOJ officials modified their process for selecting an independent monitor in response to backlash from one of the lawyers representing victims' relatives, who argued the families should select the candidate instead of the government choosing from a pool of candidates Boeing would propose.
Boeing will also serve a probation, during which it commits not to violate any laws until the end of the monitor's three-year term. After being briefed last week on the DOJ's offer, a lawyer for some of the crash victims' families criticised it as a "sweetheart deal". "The families intend to argue that the plea deal with Boeing unfairly makes concessions to Boeing that other criminal defendants would never receive and fails to hold Boeing accountable for the deaths of 346 persons," lawyers for the victims' families said in a separate court filing.
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