The US Justice Department must decide whether to indict Boeing by early next month after prosecutors recommended criminal charges be brought against the plane manufacturer.
The company allegedly failed to keep up its end of a 2021 settlement agreement crafted following two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes, the prosecutors said when bringing forth the recommendation.
Now, the Justice Department has until July 7 to decide if it will prosecute Boeing.
Boeing allegedly breached the deferred prosecution agreement in May, officials said. The deal protected the planemaker from criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit fraud, which stemmed from two deadly Boeing crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Prosecutors said the company failed to “design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws throughout its operations” in May 2021.
But Boeing claimed it held up its end of the bargain at that time.
“We believe that we have honored the terms of that agreement, and look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue,” Boeing said in a statement last month.
“As we do so, we will engage with the Department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident.”
The 2021 deal spared Boeing from prosecution over allegations it defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration as long as it overhauled its compliance system, submitted routine reports and paid a $2.5 billion fine over its three-year term.
It’s unclear whether the Justice Department and Boeing will come to an agreement outside of court that will avoid the charges. The two parties have been discussing a possible solution, making it unclear if the Justice Department will move forward with charges against Boeing, two sources told Reuters.
The potential criminal probe comes as Boeing has been in the hot seat following whistleblower claims it cut corners during the manufacturing process and the shocking Jan. 5 door plug blow-out on an Alaska Airlines flight.
With Post wires
