Boeing could be criminally charged by the US Department of Justice in July if prosecutors’ recommendations are accepted, Reuters revealed.
According to the outlet, the DOJ must decide by July 7 whether to sue Boeing over a possible violation of a 2021 agreement, which protected the company from being accused of fraud following the fatal crashes of two 737 MAX 8s in 2018 and 2019.
In May, authorities said the planemaker violated an agreement after a door plug exploded on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 in January.
Follow Air Data News: WhatsApp | Google News | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Boeing had agreed to pay a $2.5 billion fine to settle the case. But the new incident motivated the Department of Justice to consider that the company did not comply with the agreement that obligated it to “design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws throughout its operations.”
With the potential criminal accusation, Boeing may have to face extra stress in its already complicated current situation, in which it has been the target of scrutiny from authorities and the public.
According to the news agency’s sources, Boeing and DOJ are in discussions to find an alternative to criminal charges.
The hypothesis could drastically affect the company as it could lead to a type of management intervention or, in a more extreme case, require Boeing to plead guilty.
In this case, the loss would be enormous as it would prevent it from competing for government contracts, one of its biggest sources of income.
Another alternative evaluated would be to pay a new fine and extend the 2021 agreement with stricter terms.
The news comes as families of crew and passengers who died in the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crashes demand that Boeing pay a fine of nearly $25 billion in compensation.
