Boeing accepts plea deal to avoid criminal trial over 737 Max crashes, Justice Department says

Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two deadly crashes of its 737 Max jets after the government determined the company violated an agreement that shielded it from prosecution for more than three years, it said Sunday evening Department of Justice.

Federal prosecutors this week gave Boeing the choice of entering a guilty plea and paying a fine as part of its sentence or facing trial on the felony count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Prosecutors accused the US aerospace giant of misleading regulators who approved the plane and pilot training requirements for it.

The plea agreement, which still needs approval from a federal judge to take effect, requires Boeing to pay an additional $243.6 million in fines. That was the same amount it paid under the 2021 settlement that the Justice Department said the company violated. An independent monitor will be appointed to oversee Boeing’s safety and quality procedures for three years.

The settlement covers only Boeing’s wrongdoing before the crashes, which killed all 346 passengers and crew aboard two new Max planes. It does not give Boeing immunity for other incidents, including a panel that blew up a Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, a Justice Department official said.

The settlement also does not cover any current or former Boeing officials, only the corporation.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Boeing committed a conspiracy to defraud the government by misleading regulators about a flight control system that was involved in the crashes, which occurred in Indonesia in October 2018 and in Ethiopia, less than five months later.

As part of the January 2021 settlement, the Justice Department said it would not prosecute Boeing on the charge if the company complied with certain conditions for three years. Last month, prosecutors alleged that Boeing violated the terms of that agreement.

The company’s guilty plea will be entered in the District Court of Texas. The judge overseeing the case, who criticized what he called “Boeing’s egregious criminal conduct,” could accept the plea and the sentence prosecutors offered along with it or reject the deal, likely leading to new negotiations between Department of Justice and Boeing.

Relatives of the people who died in the crashes were told of the plea offer a week ago and said at the time they would ask the judge to reject it.

US agencies can use a criminal conviction as a reason to bar companies from doing business with the government for a certain period of time. Boeing is a major contractor for the Department of Defense and NASA.

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Koenig reported from Dallas. Richer reported from Boston.

David Koenig and Alanna Durkin Richer, Associated Press