By T. Jayani, JadeTimes News
A lawyer representing victims of two deadly Boeing 737 Max crashes has informed that the US government is planning to offer the plane manufacturer a "sweetheart plea deal." Paul Cassell, who claims to have received this information "directly from the Justice Department," stated that the agreement includes a modest fine, three years of probation, and independent safety audits.
Boeing did not immediately respond to the us request for comment, while the Justice Department (DoJ) declined to provide a statement.
Last month, US prosecutors advised the DoJ to bring criminal charges against Boeing. This recommendation followed the DoJ's assertion that Boeing had violated a 2021 settlement related to the crashes that resulted in 346 deaths.
"The memory of 346 innocents killed by Boeing demands more justice than this," Mr. Cassell remarked, adding that the "families will strenuously object to this plea deal." The two crashes, both involving Boeing's 737 Max aircraft, occurred within six months of each other. The first crash involved Indonesia's Lion Air in October 2018, followed by an Ethiopian Airlines flight in March 2019. Both incidents were attributed to faulty flight control systems.
A letter sent last month by Mr. Cassell to the DoJ revealed that the families had been seeking prosecutions of Boeing's top executives at the time of the crashes and a fine of $24.8 billion (£19.6 billion) for what they called "the deadliest corporate crime in US history."
The Justice Department has until 7 July to decide whether to revive a criminal fraud charge brought against Boeing in 2021. That charge has been inactive since the company acknowledged in a settlement that it had misled air safety regulators about aspects of the 737 Max and agreed to establish a new compliance system to detect and prevent further fraud.
Under the 2021 agreement, Boeing committed to a $2.5 billion settlement, and prosecutors agreed to ask the court to drop a criminal charge after three years if the company complied with specific conditions outlined in the deferred prosecution agreement. However, in May, the DoJ stated that Boeing had breached the agreement, noting that it had failed to "design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the US fraud laws throughout its operations."
Earlier this year, Boeing faced renewed scrutiny when a door panel fell off a new 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight.