Boeing finalises plea deal over fatal 737 Max crashes
Al Jazeera
Aircraft giant to pay $243.6m fine under agreement that is subject to US judge’s approval.
Boeing has finalised a deal to plead guilty to fraud after prosecutors in the United States determined that the company violated a deferred prosecution agreement over two fatal crashes of the 737 Max jetliner.
Under the plea deal filed in a federal court in Texas on Wednesday, Boeing would pay a $243.6m fine for misleading aviation regulators about software used in the 737 Max that played a role in two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.
The aircraft giant, which agreed in principle to plead guilty earlier this month, would also be required to invest $455m in its compliance safety programmes and appoint an independent compliance monitor while serving three years of “organisational probation”.
The agreement is subject to approval by US District Judge Reed O’Connor, who will give lawyers for families of the crash victims seven days to file objections to the deal.
“Boeing and the Justice Department have filed a detailed plea agreement in federal court, which is subject to court approval,” Boeing said in a statement.
