NEW YORK: The Justice Department said Friday (Mar 23) it reached a preliminary agreement with Boeing to settle a long-running criminal probe into deadly 737 MAX crashes, drawing condemnation from some crash victim families.
A Lion Air aircraft crashed into the Java Sea off Indonesia shortly after take-off in October 2018, killing all 189 people aboard. About five months later, in March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines flight also went down soon after taking off. A total of 157 people died.
Under an “agreement in principle,” Boeing will pay US$1.1 billion, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) would dismiss a criminal charge against Boeing over its conduct in the certification of the MAX, DOJ said in a federal filing.
The US$1.1 billion includes a US$243.6 million fine and US$444.5 million into a crash victims’ fund that would be divided evenly per crash victim. The aviation giant will also set aside over US$455 million to strengthen the company’s compliance, safety, and quality programs, the Justice Department said.
A judge must approve the accord, which would scuttle a criminal trial scheduled for June in Fort Worth, Texas.
The agreement would resolve the case without requiring Boeing to plead guilty to fraud in the certification of the MAX.
Family members of some MAX victims slammed the proposed settlement as a giveaway to Boeing.
“The message sent by this action to companies around the country is, don’t worry about making your products safe for your customers,” said Javier de Luis in a statement released by attorneys for plaintiffs suing Boeing.
“This kind of non-prosecution deal is unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in US history,” said Paul Cassell, an attorney representing relatives of victims. “My families will object and hope to convince the court to reject it.”
But the DOJ, in its brief, cited other family members who expressed a desire for closure, quoting one who said “the grief resurfaces every time this case is discussed in court or other forums”.
Family members of more than 110 crash victims told the government “they either support the agreement specifically, support the Department’s efforts to resolve the case pre-trial more generally or do not oppose the agreement”, the filing said.
The DOJ filing called the accord “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,” it said.
Boeing declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
