AP: Boeing admitted its guilt in fraud
Company Boeing has agreed to a plea deal to avoid a criminal trial over the 737 Max crash, the Associated Press reported, citing the Justice Department.
The company will plead guilty to fraud charges related to two deadly 737 Max crashes after the government found that Boeing violated an agreement that had shielded it from prosecution for more than three years.
Federal prosecutors this week gave the company a choice: plead guilty and pay a fine as part of its sentence or face a criminal charge of conspiring to defraud the United States.
The plea agreement, which must be approved by a federal judge to go into effect, calls for Boeing to pay an additional $243.6 million in fines, the same amount it paid under a 2021 agreement that the Justice Department said the company violated. An independent monitor will be appointed for three years to monitor Boeing's compliance with safety and quality procedures.
A Boeing 737 Max crashed in Ethiopia in 2018 and in Indonesia in 2019, killing nearly 1,000 people in the two crashes.