In a case involving the 346 fatal crashes of its 737 Max aircraft in Ethiopia and Indonesia, Boeing entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to defraud the United States government. The government claimed that Boeing had breached the terms of a 2021 agreement to avoid prosecution.
After a string of embarrassing safety mishaps, it's another black mark for the company, but the agreement spares it from more dire repercussions.
As part of the new deal, Boeing will pay $487.2 million in penalties, agree to oversight by an independent monitor, spend at least $455 million to strengthen compliance and safety programs and be placed on supervised probation for roughly three years, according to a Justice Department official.
Boeing had already agreed to $2.5 billion in penalties and payouts in 2021. The agreement also included one thing crash victims’ families long sought: a meeting with Boeing’s board of directors. It is rare for a company of Boeing’s stature to plead guilty to a crime, and the moment marks another low point for the already-battered reputation of the century-old aircraft manufacturer.
According to the Washington Post, the plea underscores the long shadow of the deadly crashes and also comes at time when Boeing is trying to restore the trust of regulators and the flying public amid a fresh safety crisis that began in January when a panel flew off the side of a newer model Max mid-flight.//