Boeing, DOJ finalize plea agreement

Boeing would plead guilty to conspiracy and pay nearly $250 million in penalties if a proposed plea agreement with the Justice Department is approved, according to court filings made public Wednesday.

The proposed agreement concludes a multiyear investigation into a pair of crashes of its MAX aircraft in 2018 and 2019. Federal investigators determined software errors caused the crashes, which resulted in nearly 350 deaths.

The company was accused of misleading the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the safety of the MCAS software inside its MAX aircraft.

The agreement would admit that Boeing gave the FAA “incomplete and inaccurate information” about the MAX aircraft software, undermining safety.

Boeing would also agree in the deal to a three-year organizational probation, to invest $455 million in compliance programs and for its board to meet with the families of crash victims. There would also be an independent compliance officer overseeing the deal.

The plea must first be approved by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor.

An attorney who represents some of the victims’ families blasted the deal as inadequate.

“The proposed plea has all the problems in it that the families feared it would have. We will file a strong objection to the preferential and ‘sweetheart’ treatment Boeing is receiving within seven days with Judge O’Connor. We will strong urge him to reject this proposed plea,” Paul Cassell said in a statement.

Boeing agreed to a $2.5 billion settlement with the DOJ in 2021 to settle the MAX aircraft safety concerns and avoid prosecution. The department alleged that Boeing violated the agreement after safety concerns again rocked the company in January after a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight.

In Wednesday’s filing, the Justice Department said Boeing “took considerable steps” to improve its anti-fraud compliance program since 2021, but the changes “have not been fully implemented or tested to demonstrate that they would prevent and detect similar misconduct in the future.”

Boeing stood by the settlement agreement in a Thursday statement to The Hill.

“Boeing and the Justice Department have filed a detailed plea agreement in federal court, which is subject to court approval,” the company said. “We will continue to work transparently with our regulators as we take significant actions across Boeing to further strengthen our safety, quality and compliance programs.”