DOJ reportedly preparing to present Boeing with plea deal for 737 Max crashes
July 1 (UPI) -- The Justice Department is planning to present Boeing with a plea deal related to two fatal crashes of the embattled American aerospace company's 737 Max 8 jet that lawyers representing the victims' families describe as a "sweetheart deal" that they will "strenuously object" to.
The Justice Department has been investigating Boeing and its safety practices following a series of recent issues that have plagued the company's public image, most notably when a door plug flew off a 737 Max jet in January mid-flight.
Last month, federal prosecutors said those issues violated a 2021 agreement that shielded it from criminal charges stemming from the two crashes of 747 Max jets that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.
The conditions of the plea deal have not been publicly disclosed but lawyers representing the families said it was presented to them during a two-hour call on Sunday. If Boeing accepts, it means a criminal trial will be avoided.
"The deal will not acknowledge, in any way, that Boeing's crime killed 346 people. It also appears to rest on the idea that Boeing did not harm any victim," Paul Cassell, a lawyer representing victims' families in a criminal action pending in a Texas federal court, said in a statement.
"The families will strenuously object to this plea deal."
Robert Clifford, a senior partner at Clifford Law Office who participated in the call, also said accountability and admission that Boeing committed a crime resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people were absent from the plea deal.
"I can tell you that the families are very unhappy and angered with DOJ's decisions and proposal," he said. "And the families will most certainly object before Judge Reed O'Connor and ask that he reject the plea if Boeing accepts."
Justice Department officials told the families and their attorneys during the call that they have yet to present the deal to Boeing but would do so later Sunday, according to the lawyers.
UPI has contacted both the Department of Justice and Boeing for comment and confirmation.
Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in October 2018, killing 189 people. Six months later, a second Boeing 737 Max jet, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, crashed shortly after take off, killing 157 people.
In 2021, Boeing struck a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve a criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration over pilots withholding information about issues with the jet.
Boeing has apologized over the crashes. Its outgoing CEO, Dave Calhoun, repeated the apology earlier this month during a bipartisan hearing on Capitol Hill.
"I apologize for the grief we have caused," he said. "We are focused on safety."
