Families of 737 MAX crash victims to object to deal allowing Boeing to avoid prosecution
The Justice Department outlined the tentative deal in a more than two-hour meeting with families on Friday and said in a court filing on Saturday that they would have until Thursday to file written objections
Highlights:
- Agreement would prevent Boeing from being branded convicted felon
- Boeing faces scrutiny from FAA after MAX 9 emergency incident
Families of some of the 346 people killed in two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes plan to object to a tentative non prosecution agreement between the planemaker and the US Justice Department, a lawyer said on Saturday.
The Justice Department outlined the tentative deal in a more than two-hour meeting with families on Friday and said in a court filing on Saturday that they would have until Thursday to file written objections.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Paul Cassell, a lawyer for the families, said they would object "to any deal along the lines described by DOJ yesterday, because it fails to hold Boeing accountable for the 'deadliest corporate crime in US history,'" citing the prior comments of US District Judge Reed O'Connor.
The Justice Department said in its filing "it has not decided whether to enter into the agreement or to proceed to trial, and would not make the decision until after finishing conferring with the families."
The agreement would forestall a June 23 trial the planemaker faces on a fraud charge it misled US regulators about a crucial flight control system on the 737 MAX, its best-selling jet.
The agreement would allow Boeing to avoid being branded a convicted felon and would be a blow to families who lost relatives in the crashes and had pressed prosecutors to take the US planemaker to trial.
"The new deal is a step backward from last summer, when Boeing was going to plead guilty," Cassell added. "Under the new arrangement, they don't plead guilty."
Boeing declined to comment.
Boeing agreed in July to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, spanning 2018 and 2019, and to pay a fine of up to $487.2 million.
Boeing and DOJ officials have not yet exchanged papers to negotiate final details of any non prosecution agreement, the department said Saturday.
