Judge approves DOJ decision to drop Boeing criminal case

REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE/FILE PHOTO

Photos of loved ones killed in Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crashes are held up as Boeing’s CEO Dave Calhoun testifies before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Investigations Subcommittee hearing on the safety culture at Boeing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, in June 2024. A judge today approved a Justice Department request to dismiss a criminal case against Boeing, allowing the planemaker to avoid prosecution on a charge stemming from two fatal 737 MAX plane crashes that killed 346 people, but he harshly criticized the government’s decision.

WASHINGTON >> A U.S. judge today approved a Justice Department request to dismiss a criminal case against Boeing, allowing the planemaker to avoid prosecution on a charge stemming from two fatal 737 MAX plane crashes that killed 346 people, but he harshly criticized the government’s decision.

Judge Reed O’Connor, of the U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, Texas, disagreed with the department that dismissing the case is in the public interest but said he had no authority to reject the decision. The deal with Boeing “fails to secure the necessary accountability to ensure the safety of the flying public,” he noted.

Boeing said it will honor the obligations of its agreement with the Department of Justice.

“We are also committed to continuing the significant efforts we have made as a company to strengthen our safety, quality, and compliance programs,” it added.

Boeing in 2024 had agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after the fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019 but the Justice Department reversed course in May and dropped the demand Boeing plead guilty.

In September, O’Connor held a three-hour hearing to consider objections to the deal, questioning the government’s decision to drop a requirement that Boeing face oversight from an independent monitor for three years and instead hire a compliance consultant. He heard anguished objections from relatives of some of those killed in the crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019 to the non-prosecution agreement.

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O’Connor, in his ruling today, noted the government’s position: “Boeing committed crimes sufficient to justify prosecution, failed to remedy its fraudulent behavior on its own during the (deferred prosecution agreement), which justified a guilty plea and the imposition of an independent monitor, but now Boeing will remedy that dangerous culture by retaining a consultant of its own choosing.”

O’Connor said the families were correct in asserting that “this agreement fails to secure the necessary accountability to ensure the safety of the flying public.”

The government argued Boeing has improved and the Federal Aviation Administration is providing enhanced oversight. Boeing and the government argued O’Connor had no choice but to dismiss the case.

O’Connor said in 2023 that “Boeing’s crime may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history.”

Under the non-prosecution deal, Boeing agreed to pay an additional $444.5 million into a crash victims’ fund to be divided evenly per victim of the two fatal 737 MAX crashes, on top of a new $243.6 million fine and over $455 million to strengthen the company’s compliance, safety, and quality programs.

In September, the FAA proposed fining Boeing $3.1 million for a series of safety violations, including actions tied to the January 2024 Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 mid-air emergency, and for interfering with safety officials’ independence.

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