The decision to move toward criminally charging Boeing deepens an ongoing crisis engulfing the planemaker, exposing the company to additional financial ramifications and tougher government oversight.
A guilty plea could also carry implications for Boeing’s ability to enter into government contracts such as those with the US military that make up a significant portion of its revenue. Companies with felony convictions can receive waivers, and it remained unclear to what extent the Justice Department’s proposed plea deal addresses the issue.
Justice Department officials revealed their decision to victims’ family members at the weekend. The proposal would require Boeing to plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the US Federal Aviation Administration in connection with the fatal crashes, the sources said.
The Justice Department’s push for Boeing to plead guilty follows a separate January in-flight blowout that exposed continuing safety and quality issues at the planemaker.
A panel blew off a new Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet during a January 5 Alaska Airlines flight, just two days before a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department expired.
That agreement had shielded Boeing from prosecution over the 2018 and 2019 fatal crashes. Boeing has previously said it “honored the terms” of the settlement and formally told prosecutors it disagrees with the finding that it violated the agreement.
The proposed agreement also includes a $487.2 million financial penalty, only half of which Boeing would be required to pay, they added. That is because prosecutors are giving the company credit for a payment it made as part of the previous settlement related to the fatal crashes of the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights. The penalty is the maximum legally allowed for the charge.
Boeing could also likely be forced to pay restitution under the proposal’s terms, the amount of which will be at a judge’s discretion, the sources said. The offer also contemplates subjecting Boeing to three years of probation, they said.
The plea deal would also require Boeing’s board to meet with victims’ relatives, they said.
Victims’ relatives expressed anger toward Justice Department officials during the call, viewing the proposed plea deal as failing to hold Boeing accountable for the fatal crashes, said Erin Applebaum, one of the lawyers representing victims’ relatives. Family members wanted the company to face additional charges and stiffer financial consequences, she said.
“The 737 MAX families vigorously oppose the shameful new sweetheart deal between Boeing and the Department of Justice,” said Applebaum. She called the proposed plea agreement’s financial penalty “negligible” and said victims’ families will oppose the deal in court.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the families’ reaction.
It is unusual for the Justice Department to inform other interested parties of its plans before notifying the company in its crosshairs, a third source said. But the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, has sought to change its tack after facing backlash from the victims’ families over the original 2021 agreement. Victims’ relatives found out about the 2021 deal only after it had been negotiated.
US lawmakers in June grilled chief executive Dave Calhoun over Boeing’s tarnished safety record. Lawyers for victims’ family members have cited criticism from Capitol Hill when pressing the Justice Department to prosecute the planemaker and impose a fine of up to $24.78 billion.
Boeing previously paid $2.5b as part of the deal with prosecutors that granted the company immunity from criminal prosecution over a fraud conspiracy charge related to the 737 MAX’s flawed design.
Boeing had to abide by the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement for a three-year period that ended on January 7. Prosecutors would then have been poised to ask a judge to dismiss the fraud conspiracy charge. But in May, the Justice Department found Boeing breached the agreement, exposing the company to prosecution.
