The U.S. Justice Department is pushing Boeing to plead guilty to criminal fraud in connection with two deadly plane crashes involving its 737 Max jetliners, according to several people who heard federal prosecutors detail a proposed offer Sunday.
Boeing will have until the end of the coming week to accept or reject the offer, which includes the giant aerospace company agreeing to an independent monitor who would oversee its compliance with anti-fraud laws, they said.
The case stems from the department’s determination that Boeing violated an agreement that was intended to resolve a 2021 charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. Prosecutors alleged at the time that Boeing misled regulators who approved the 737 Max and set pilot-training requirements to fly the plane. The company blamed two relatively low-level employees for the fraud.
The Justice Department told relatives of some of the 346 people who died in the 2018 and 2019 crashes about the plea offer during a video meeting. The family members, who want Boeing to face a criminal trial and to pay a $24.8 billion fine, reacted angrily. One said prosecutors were gaslighting the families; another shouted at them for several minutes when given a chance to speak.
I’ll say it again: fees should be increased exponentially based on total income (not profit) - the more you make, the more crippling the penalties.
Not that it could everv happen. There’s not enough money in the world to fight off the corporate lobbying that would fight back if such a law was seriously considered in the first place.
Make the mandatory minimum fine 105% of the estimated revenue.
The board should be jailed for fatal crashes. They decided on money over those people’s lives. What is homicide for an individual is somehow feds requesting consent to be fined from a company.