US seeks Boeing plea deal, lawyers say

Boeing assembly plant in Renton, Washington

The crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people total

(Image credit: Jennifer Buchanan / Pool / AFP via Getty Images)

published 1 July 2024

What happened

U.S. prosecutors are giving Boeing a week to accept a plea deal tied to a pair of deadly 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. Under its terms, Boeing would plead guilty to one fraud-conspiracy felony, hire an outside safety compliance monitor, and pay an additional $244 million fine, according to lawyers for families of crash victims briefed Sunday by the Justice Department.

The plea offer supersedes a delayed prosecution agreement Boeing signed in early 2021, a "form of corporate probation" lasting three years, The Wall Street Journal said. Federal prosecutors said in May that Boeing had violated its requirements. "Many family members feel like it's a sweetheart deal, but it's a serious step up in accountability from the original" settlement, attorney Mark Lindquist told the Journal.

Victims' families wanted Boeing to pay $24.8 billion and its top executives to face prosecution, a court filing last week said.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.