Families of 737 Max crash victims urge US to prosecute Boeing

Family members of people killed in two fatal crashes of Boeing Co.’s 737 Max jets are urging the US Justice Department to reject a possible deal that would allow the planemaker to avoid a criminal charge.

In a letter sent to the department Thursday and seen by Bloomberg, an attorney for the families described the proposed nonprosecution agreement the government is discussing with Boeing as “a remarkably bad and unprecedented resolution” of the long-running legal case and said it would be a “miscarriage of justice.” A criminal trial is set to start June 23 in Texas.

“Rather than engage in further discussions about a pre-trial resolution, the Department should simply take the case to trial,” Paul Cassell, an attorney for the victims’ families, said in the letter. He also asked for a meeting with US Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The Justice Department met with families on Friday to inform them of the options being considered for the case. In a court filing on Saturday, it said that along with the “framework” for a nonprosecution agreement, the government also is weighing whether to prosecute the planemaker for criminal conspiracy or work out a plea deal before the trial. 

Any agreement would have to be approved by US District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas, who is presiding over the case. Cassell said the family members would formally object to the nonprosecution agreement in court, according to the letter.

Relatives of the crash victims have long argued Boeing and its executives should face criminal prosecution for a flawed design that contributed to two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 and killed 346 people. The only Boeing official to face trial was a mid-level manager overseeing the pilot manuals and training materials. He was acquitted.

In 2021, the Boeing reached an agreement with the Justice Department to defer prosecution on a charge that it deceived regulators about a system linked to the crashes. That agreement and Boeing’s guilty plea were days away from expiring when a near-catastrophe on an airborne Max triggered new investigations into shoddy manufacturing practices. 

Last May, the government said the company violated that agreement and recommended a criminal charge, citing Boeing’s failure to live up to its promises. Boeing then agreed to plead guilty to criminal conspiracy, pay a fine and install an independent corporate monitor in the since-rejected plea deal. The agreement would have also required the company to spend at least $455 million to bolster its compliance and safety programs.

But O’Connor rejected the deal because he said it diminished the role of the court in ensuring compliance, and he took issue with language that required the selection of the independent monitor to “be made in keeping with the Department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.”

Since then, Boeing and US prosecutors said in court filings that they were working toward a new plea deal. As part of those negotiations, the planemaker in March sought to withdraw its guilty plea, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time. One day later, O’Connor set a June 23 trial date in the case without explanation.

The case is US v. Boeing, 21-cr-005, US District Court, Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth).