Boeing agrees to plead guilty to fraud in two 737 Max plane crashes

This article was originally published in English

Aerospace giant Boeing has agreed plead guilty to a fraud crime in connection with two of its 737 Max planes that crashed off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia. The accidents caused the deaths of 346 people.

According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the aerospace giant offers to pay a fine of 243.6 million dollars (225.11 million euros), which equals the fine it paid in 2021.

The company’s decision, if an agreement is reached, would allow him to avoid a criminal triala point that many of the victims’ families consider imperative. They argue that the agreement does not hold Boeing accountable because the company can avoid legal admission that their engineering errors were responsible for the deaths of their crew and passengers.

Relatives of some of the deceased passengers have indicated that They will ask a federal judge in Texas to annul the agreementwhich they consider too lenient given the lives lost. They want a trial, a huge fine and for Boeing’s executives to face charges.

The Justice Department says a fraud conviction will ensure accountability for “misstatements” Boeing in 2017 on the 737 Max. The accidents occurred less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019.

The company continues to face investigations for an incident in January. In January, Alaska Airlines suffered a panel blowout, leading to accusations of poor workmanship from current and former employees.

What is Boeing admitting?

The aerospace company will admit criminal fraud in connection with deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration.

The first indictment took place in 2021, but the terms of the agreement were not to prosecute Boeing if it paid a fine and was completing three years of corporate probation, also known as a deferred prosecution agreement.

In May, the Department of Justice determined that the company had violated the conditions of his parolewhich led to Sunday’s agreement.

The new agreement could eliminate the stain on Boeing’s reputation: the felony charge of deceiving aviation regulators who approved the plane and flight requirements to ensure safety.

Boeing has agreed to pay a total fine of $487.2 million (450.2 million euros), the legal maximum according to the Justice Department. The agreement also requires the company to invest a minimum of 455 million dollars (420.5 million euros) to improve security after a three-year corporate trial period.

Boeing’s board of directors also must meet in person with the victims and their families.

Angry response from victims’ families

Zipporah Kuria, a 28-year-old London woman whose father, Joseph, was on the Ethiopian Airlines flight which crashed in March 2019wanted a trial because he thought it would reveal new details about what led to the accidents.

Now, with the growing possibility that there will be no trial, she says, “The opportunity to continue digging, the opportunity to continue discovering.” what has gone wrong here and what is wrong, it is as if it were taken away from us.”

“So, once again, to them (the victims) They have been robbed of their dignity“We have already been robbed of our closure.”

Javier de Luis, an MIT aeronautics professor whose sister, Graziella, died in the Ethiopia crash, also considers the punishment imposed on Boeing to be inadequate.

“If you look at the elements in this plea agreement, they are pretty typical of what you would expect in a white collar fraud investigation, not in the case of a crime that directly caused the death of 346 people“, he claimed.

Meanwhile, in another Boeing scare, a plane lost a wheel on Monday during takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport on a flight to Denver. The plane managed to land at its destination and the wheel was later recovered. No injuries were reported.

This is the second time this year that an incident of this type occurs.