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A federal judge on Thursday rejected a deal that would have allowed Boeing to plead guilty to a felony conspiracy charge and pay a fine for misleading US regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed, killing 346 people.<\/p>\n
The ruling by US District Judge Reed O\u2019Connor in Texas creates uncertainty around the criminal prosecution of the aerospace giant in connection with the development of its bestselling airline plane. Boeing and the Justice Department could try to negotiate a new plea agreement.<\/p>\n
Judge O\u2019Connor\u2019s decision was almost certain to please many relatives of the passengers who died in the crashes, which took place off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart. The families have spent years pushing for a public trial, the prosecution of former company officials and more severe financial punishment for Boeing.<\/p>\n
The deal the judge rejected would have let Boeing plead guilty to defrauding regulators who approved pilot training requirements for the 737 Max nearly a decade ago. Prosecutors did not allege Boeing\u2019s deception played a role in the crashes.<\/p>\n
Boeing employees work on the 737 MAX on the final assembly line at Boeing’s Renton plant, 15 June 2022, in Renton, Wash (The Seattle Times)The Justice Department first charged Boeing in January 2021 with defrauding Federal Aviation Administration regulators who approved pilot training requirements for the 737 Max. <\/p>\n
The department simultaneously announced it would drop the charge after three years if the company stayed out of trouble and paid a $2.5bn settlement \u2013 mostly money the company would have paid airline customers anyway due to the FAA grounding the 737 Max fleet for 20 months. <\/p>\n
Families of the victims were outraged. Judge O\u2019Connor ruled last year that the Justice Department broke a victims-rights law by not telling relatives that it was negotiating with Boeing, but said he had no power to overturn the deal.<\/p>\n
The 2021 deferred-prosecution agreement was due to expire when a door plug blew off a 737 Max early this year during an Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon. The incident renewed concerns about manufacturing quality at Boeing, and put the company under intense scrutiny. <\/p>\n
After determining that Boeing had violated terms of the 2021 settlement, the Justice Department revived its prosecution of the conspiracy charge. That led to new negotiations and the plea deal that Judge O\u2019Connor rejected. <\/p>\n
In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a single felony count of conspiracy to commit fraud for allegedly deceiving the FAA about how much training pilots would need before flying the Max. Boeing had downplayed the significance of a new flight-control system called MCAS.<\/p>\n
Acting on Boeing\u2019s incomplete disclosures, the FAA approved minimal, computer-based training instead of more intensive training in flight simulators. Simulator training would have increased the cost for airlines to operate the Max and might have pushed some to buy planes from rival Airbus instead.<\/p>\n
Because of Boeing\u2019s actions, airlines and pilots didn\u2019t even know about MCAS until it was implicated in the first crash, in 2018 in the Java Sea. Despite knowing about MCAS, Ethiopian Airlines pilots were unable to control the system and prevent another crash in 2019 near Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors told the judge the conspiracy charge was the toughest they could prove against Boeing. Crucially, the Justice Department said that if the case went to trial, it would not present any evidence that Boeing\u2019s deception caused the crashes. <\/p>\n
The plea agreement included a fine of up to $487.2m but would give\/have given Boeing credit for $243.6m in penalties it paid as part of the 2021 settlement. Under the deal, Boeing, which is based in Arlington, Virginia, also would invest $455m in compliance and safety programs, and be placed on probation and overseen by an independent monitor for three years.<\/p>\n
At an 11 October hearing, Boeing lawyer Ben Hatch defended the plea deal, saying Boeing \u201cis a pillar of the national economy and the national defense\u201d and needed to know its punishment before agreeing to plead guilty.<\/p>\n
The lawyer\u2019s argument stunned relatives of the victims, who were in the courtroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoeing is too important for the economy \u2013 they\u2019re too big to jail. That\u2019s what he\u2019s saying,\u201d said Michael Stumo, whose daughter Samya died in the second crash. \u201cIt allows them to kill people with no consequences because they\u2019re too big and because their shareholders won\u2019t like it.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the US I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our\u00a0privacy policy A federal judge on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n