Boeing and the US Department of Justice have reached an agreement that will allow the aerospace giant to avoid prosecution on criminal charges over two plane crashes that killed 346 people.
Under the new non-prosecution agreement, Boeing will pay or invest more than $1.1 billion, CNBC reported. $445 million will go toward safety and compliance programs, $444.5 million is to be set aside for crash victims, with the remainder dedicated to paying remaining criminal fines.
The DOJ described the deal as a "fair and just resolution that serves the public interest," emphasizing the benefits of immediate accountability and the avoidance of a lengthy trial. The agreement must be finalized by next week, at which point the Justice Department intends to dismiss the case.
Boeing declined to comment on the deal.
The crashes of a Lion Air jet in 2018 and an Ethiopian Airlines flight in 2019 led to a worldwide grounding of Boeing's 737 Max for nearly two years. Investigators later linked both crashes to a flawed flight-control system, MCAS, that Boeing had failed to properly disclose to regulators.
"This kind of non-prosecution deal is unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history," said Paul Cassel, an attorney representing families of the crash victims. Cassel intends to file an objection to the deal.
The deal follows a previous 2021 deferred prosecution agreement under the Trump administration that shielded Boeing from criminal charges for three years. That arrangement expired just days after a door panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max 9 in early 2024, prompting prosecutors to allege Boeing violated the terms by failing to implement adequate compliance measures.
Despite its safety record, Boeing remains a key U.S. defense contractor, recently securing multi-billion dollar military contracts. Critics argue the company's influence and economic importance have shielded it from more serious legal consequences.
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