US Justice Department to meet families of 737 MAX victims on Boeing criminal case

[WASHINGTON] The US Justice Department on Friday plans to meet with the victims of two Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019 ahead of a June 23 trial date the planemaker faces, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.

Last month, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company was in discussions with the Justice Department to reach a revised plea agreement in a criminal fraud case stemming from the planemaker’s alleged misrepresentations to regulators about a crucial flight control system on the 737 MAX.

“I want this resolved as fast as anybody,” Ortberg said in April at a US Senate hearing. “Hopefully, we’ll have a new agreement here soon.”

Friday’s virtual meeting will give victims’ relatives the opportunity to confer with the Justice Department but the letter dated Wednesday did not disclose any update in the case.

Boeing declined to comment. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 in Indonesia and Ethiopia and to pay a fine of up to US$487.2 million.

The plea deal also included spending US$455 million to improve safety and compliance practices over three years of court-supervised probation as well as the appointment of an independent monitor for three years.

Relatives of the victims of the crashes said the agreement was a “sweetheart” deal that failed to adequately hold Boeing to account for the deaths of their loved ones. The two crashes led to the bestselling plane being grounded for 20 months and cost Boeing more than US$20 billion.

The 2024 plea deal would brand Boeing a convicted felon for conspiring to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration about problems with software on the flight control systems during the MAX’s certification.

In May 2024, the DOJ found Boeing had violated a 2021 agreement that had shielded it from prosecution over the crashes. Prosecutors then decided to criminally charge Boeing and negotiate the current plea deal.

The decision followed the January 2024 in-flight blowout of a door panel on a new Alaska Airlines’ 737 MAX 9 missing four key bolts.

Last month, Boeing reached settlements with families of two people who died in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash on the eve of a trial. REUTERS