Posted on 05/23/2025 12:53:39 PM PDT by DFG
The U.S. Justice Department said Friday that it has reached a deal with Boeing to avoid prosecution over two crashes of the plane maker’s 737 Max that killed 346 people.
The so-called non-prosecution agreement would allow Boeing, a major military contractor and top U.S. exporter, to avoid being labeled a felon. The decision means Boeing won’t face trial as scheduled next month, as crash victims’ family members have urged for years.
The Department of Justice met with crash victims’ family members last week to discuss the potential deal.
In a court filing on Friday the DOJ said it “is the Government’s judgment that the Agreement is a fair and just resolution that serves the public interest.”
The agreement “guarantees further accountability and substantial benefits from Boeing immediately, while avoiding the uncertainty and litigation risk presented by proceeding to trial.”
The DOJ said it intends to file a motion to dismiss the case once the “agreement in principle” is finalized, by no later than the end of next week.
Under the agreement, Boeing will have to “pay or invest” more than $1.1 billion, the DOJ said in its filing in federal court in Texas on Friday, including a $487.2 million criminal fine, though $243.6 million it already paid in an earlier agreement would be credited. It also includes $444.5 million for a new fund for crash victims, and $445 million more on compliance, safety and quality programs.
Boeing didn’t immediately comment.
The company has been trying for years to put the two crashes of its best-selling Max planes — a Lion Air flight in October 2018 and an Ethiopian Airlines flight less than five months later — behind it.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
EXACTLY HOW FAR BEHIND IS BOEING WITH A NEW PRESIDENTIAL PLANE????
CONTRACTS THAT HAVE BREACHED.
No matter the party in charge, no matter the President we elect…
…the “U.S. Justice Department” will forever be the “Let the Powerful Off the Hook Department”.
Disgusting.
Boeing has had consistent challenges on most of what they do. No easy fixes.
I flew on Southwest 737s to San Diego.
I’m still posting.
Corporations pay fines.
Human beings commit crimes. Who Re the human beings who hid information?
“Boeing’s employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operation of its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception,” then-acting Assistant Attorney General David Burns of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said at the time of the 2021 deferred prosecution agreement.
Messages revealed in an investigation into the Max’s development showed the former top Boeing pilot who was found not guilty of fraud in 2022, Mark Forkner, told the FAA to delete the flight-control system known as MCAS from manuals and, in a separate email, he boasted about “jedi-mind tricking” regulators into approving the training material.
Protecting corporate interests from DEI.
golf clap.
Those responsible should be in prison.
Correct, but what’s your point?
Actually the third sensor was available. For an extra cost
The thing was there was no design flaw in the MAX. The changes they made to the 737 MAX made it fly like a different airplane. The pilots should have been retrained on the new plane. However, the airlines didn’t want to retrain the pilots so Boeing came up with software that would make the MAX fly like a regular 737.
It’s like if an F1 racing team switched their cars from Ferrari to McLaren, but didn’t want to retrain their drivers so they used software to make the McLaren cars drive like Ferraris.
Boeing tried to cut too many corners. And paid the price.
It is the officials at Boeing that were responsible for shady practices that should be held criminally accountable.
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