The US Department of Justice is putting pressure Boeing to plead guilty to criminal fraud in connection with two fatal plane crashes involving its 737 Max jetliners, according to several people who heard federal prosecutors detail a proposed deal Sunday.
Boeing will have until the end of next week to accept or reject the offer, which involves the aerospace giant agreeing to an independent monitor who would oversee its compliance with anti-fraud laws, they said.
The case arises from the department’s decision that Boeing violated an agreement which was intended to resolve a 2021 charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States government. Prosecutors alleged at the time that Boeing misled regulators who approved the 737 Max and set training requirements for pilots to fly the plane. The company accused two relatively low-level employees for fraud.
The Justice Department said relatives of some of the 346 people died in the 2018 and 2019 crashes over the plea offer during a video conference. THE family membersBoeing’s lawyers, who are seeking a criminal trial and a $24.8 billion fine, reacted angrily. One said prosecutors had manipulated the families; another yelled at them for several minutes when they were given a chance to speak.
“We are devastated. They should just press charges,” said Massachusetts resident Nadia Milleron, whose 24-year-old daughter, Samya Stumo, died in the second of two 737 Max crashes. “This is simply an overhaul to let Boeing off the hook.”
Prosecutors told the families that if Boeing rejected the plea offer, the Justice Department would seek a trial in the case, people at the meeting said. Justice Department officials presented the offer to Boeing at a meeting later Sunday, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Boeing and the Justice Department declined to comment.
The plea deal would strip the U.S. District of its ability Judge Reed O’Connor to increase Boeing’s sentence if convicted, and some families are considering asking the Texas judge to reject the deal if Boeing accepts it.
“The underlying scandalous aspect of this settlement is that it does not acknowledge that Boeing’s crime killed 346 people,” said Paul Cassell, one of the attorneys for the victims’ families. “Boeing is not going to be held accountable for this, and they’re not going to admit that this happened.”
Sanjiv Singh, a lawyer for 16 families who lost loved ones in the Lion Air crash off Indonesia in October 2018, called the plea offer “extremely disappointing.” The terms, he said, “read to me like a love affair.”
Mark Lindquist, another attorney representing the families suing Boeing, said he asked Justice Department fraud chief Glenn Leon whether the department would add additional charges if Boeing declined the plea deal. “He wouldn’t commit one way or the other,” Lindquist said.
The meeting with the families of the crash victims came weeks after prosecutors told O’Connor that the U.S. aerospace giant had violated a January 2021 settlement that shielded Boeing from criminal prosecution related to the crashes. The second was held InEthiopia less than five months after this one in Indonesia.
Some legal experts say a conviction could jeopardize Boeing’s status as a federal contractor. The company has major contracts with the Pentagon and NASA.
However, federal agencies can grant waivers to companies convicted of crimes to keep them eligible for government contracts. Lawyers for the families of the crash victims expect that will be done for Boeing.
Boeing paid a $244 million fine in connection with the 2021 regulation of the initial fraud charge. The Justice Department will likely seek another similar sanction as part of the new plea offer, said a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a pending case.
The deal would include a monitor to oversee Boeing — but the company would propose three candidates and ask the Justice Department to choose one, or ask Boeing for additional names. This provision was particularly disliked by family members on the call, participants said.
The Justice Department also gave no indication whether it will prosecute current or former Boeing executives, another request long awaited by the families.
Lindquist, a former prosecutor, said officials made it clear a previous meeting Individuals — even CEOs — can be more sympathetic defendants than companies. Officials cited the 2022 acquittal of Boeing’s chief technical pilot for the Max on fraud charges as an example.
It’s unclear what impact a plea deal could have on other Boeing investigations, including those that followed the shattering of a panel called a door stopper on the side of a Boeing Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
News Source : apnews.com
Gn usa
