Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal charge and pay $243.6 million for violating a 2021 agreement precipitated by two fatal crashes. The US government notified a judge of Boeing's plea agreement in a July 7 filing in US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
"The parties have agreed that Boeing will plead guilty to the most serious readily provable offense," the Department of Justice said. If accepted by the court, the deal would allow Boeing to avoid a trial.
Families of victims contend the plea deal unfairly benefits Boeing, arguing in a filing that other criminal defendants would not receive similar concessions and that it fails to hold Boeing accountable for the deaths of 346 individuals. Lawyers for the families plan to urge the court to reject the deal at a plea hearing.
The deal is connected to the Boeing 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 in Indonesia and Ethiopia. After these incidents, Boeing was charged with conspiracy to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration in connection with the agency's evaluation of the 737 Max.
"Boeing will plead guilty to the offense charged in the pending one-count Criminal Information, conspiracy to defraud the United States, specifically, the lawful function of the Federal Aviation Administration Aircraft Evaluation Group," the US government filing stated
Boeing signed a deferred prosecution agreement in January 2021, agreeing to pay $2.5 billion in penalties and compensation to airline customers and victims' families. In May 2024, the Justice Department said Boeing violated the deferred prosecution agreement by failing to implement a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of US fraud laws.
The DOJ determined that Boeing breached the 2021 agreement after a January 2024 incident in which a 737 Max 9 used by Alaska Airlines made an emergency landing due to a door plug blowing off during a flight. Boeing initially asserted it had honored the settlement terms but eventually agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the FAA.
The plea agreement mandates Boeing pay a $243.6 million fine, which will be doubled, yet credits the $243.6 million already paid under the deferred prosecution agreement.
The role of the independent compliance monitor, to whom Boeing has agreed to be subject for three years, remains crucial.
Full details of the agreement remain subject to court approval, with victims' families strongly opposing the plea deal, perceiving it as insufficient to hold Boeing fully accountable for the tragic loss of lives. The government assured that the plea agreement grants no immunity to individuals, including corporate executives, from ongoing or future investigations.