The Justice Department has offered Boeing a plea deal after indicting the plane maker violating the terms of a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement which was launched after two 737 Max shocks the years 2018 and 2019.
The Justice Department told Boeing it could plead guilty or go to trial, people familiar with the talks confirmed to CBS News. The deal, which was presented to Boeing on Sunday, would have the company plead guilty to the conspiracy charge it originally faced in 2021. In exchange, Boeing would pay a fine and enter a three-year probation period, people said
The Justice Department outlined the settlement in a presentation to relatives of victims of the 737 Max crash on Sunday before presenting it to Boeing.
If Boeing agrees, a judge will have to sign off on the settlement.
News of the deal was first reported by Reuters.
Paul Cassell, an attorney representing 15 of the victims' families, told CBS News the proposal was “another plea deal” and said the families will “vigorously oppose” the agreement
“The settlement will in no way acknowledge that Boeing's crime killed 346 people. It also appears to be based on the idea that Boeing did no harm to any victims,” Cassell said, adding that “the Justice O'Connor will have to decide whether this no-account settlement is in the public interest… The memory of 346 innocents killed by Boeing demands more justice than this.”
Boeing and the Justice Department declined to comment on the settlement.
Boeing signed the deferred prosecution agreement, a deal that allows companies to avoid prosecution if they meet certain terms, in 2021 after it faced criminal conspiracy charges over two deadly 737 Max crashes. The settlement included a $2.5 billion payment and required the company to implement specific compliance and ethics programs. If Boeing were found to have complied with the agreement, the charge would be dropped after a three-year period, which would have expired in July this year.
But federal prosecutors in May told a judge that Boeing had violated the terms of the settlement, alleging that the company failed to establish sufficient compliance measures.
Boeing replied in Junesaying that he does not agree with the prosecutor's assessment and that he has not breached the agreement.
