Boeing reaches agreement with Justice Department to avoid embarrassing trial over fatal 737 MAX crashes

Boeing has "reached an agreement" with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to avoid an embarrassing trial, with a more uncertain outcome, in the criminal case linked to the two 737 MAX accidents in 2018 and 2019, which caused 346 dead.

"We have reached an agreement in principle on the terms of a resolution with the Department of Justice", indicated Boeing, this Monday July 8, 2024 to AFP, in a press release.

This guilty plea agreement was reached as prosecutors concluded that the American aerospace giant had flouted an earlier agreement regarding disasters involving Boeing 737 MAX aircraft of the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines companies in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

This so-called deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), dating from 2021, required it to improve its compliance and ethics program after these two air disasters.

What offer made to Boeing ?

The American giant received a proposal last week from the DoJ, which had committed to returning "no later than July 7  quot;to Federal Judge Reed O’Connor, who is handling the case for a Texas court (south).

Documents filed in that court this Sunday, July 7, 2024, indicate that the company has agreed to plead guilty to "conspiracy to defraud the United States" in the certification of the 737 MAX.

"The offer made to Boeing by the DoJ is to plead guilty to an ongoing criminal charge (filed in 2021) for conspiracy to defraud the FAA" (Federal Aviation Administration), the American aviation regulator, explained last week Paul Cassell, professor of law at the University of Utah and lawyer for families in this criminal aspect.

“Very disappointed” families

The families of the victims of the two air disasters said they were "very disappointed" and, according to a motion filed by their lawyers, will ask the court to dismiss the agreement at a future hearing.

"Much more evidence has been presented over the past five years that Boeing's culture of prioritizing profits over safety has not exchange. This agreement only reinforces this biased corporate objective, said one of those lawyers, Robert A. Clifford.

Immunity from prosecution

In 2021, the aeronautical giant admitted that it had committed fraud during the certification of the 737 MAX 8, involved in the two fatal accidents. All 737 MAXs were grounded for twenty months in the United States and around the world after these crashes.

This agreement required Boeing to pay a $2.5 billion fine in exchange for immunity from criminal prosecution. He was subject to a three-year probationary period expiring this year.

But last January, Boeing was plunged back into crisis when an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX had to make an emergency landing after a warning sign fuselage had separated in mid-flight.

Audits and investigations launched after this January 5 incident identified non-compliance issues and gaps in the group's quality control.

Investing in "security"programs

Under the agreement reached with the DoJ, Boeing will be fined and must invest a minimum of $455 million in compliance and compliance programs. security", while compensation for the families will be determined by the court.

According to information that has leaked in recent days, the agreement should also include the appointment of an independent supervisor for three years.

"It’It’is more attractive for the DoJ to obtain the certainty associated with a plea agreement than to go to a trial", Tracy Brammeier, of the Clifford law firm, explained last week.

"Avoiding a Humiliating Defeat"

For John Coffee, professor at Columbia University, an agreement out of court has the advantage for both parties "of avoiding a humiliating defeat and to be quick". But, in this case, "the general public often comes out wronged", he noted in a blog last week.

In addition to the difficulties arising from a criminal trial, a conviction could also have deprived the aircraft manufacturer of lucrative government and military contracts, which generated a third of its turnover in 2023.