US judge speeds up Boeing plea process to consider objections from relatives of deceased

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A federal judge on Monday set an expedited timetable to consider objections from relatives of those killed in recent crashes aboard the Boeing 737 Max — after a proposed plea deal that would see the aerospace giant plead guilty to criminally defrauding the government, Reuters reports.

Those objections could potentially complicate the deal between Boeing and the Justice Department, which the federal government disclosed in a court filing earlier this month.

“The judge has a lot of discretion here,” Paul Cassell, who represents 15 of the families involved in the case, told NPR earlier this month.

“The ultimate test is whether it is in the public interest to resolve the charges in this way, and the victims, I think, have very good reason to think that this is not a good deal.”

Under the deal, which Boeing has agreed to in principle, the company would pay a $243.6 million fine, spend $455 million over the next three years to strengthen safety and compliance, accept an independent monitor of the company and plead guilty to a felony count of criminal fraud conspiracy.

Prosecutors alleged the company defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration by knowingly making false statements about software aboard the 737 Max, Boeing’s flagship plane that was grounded for 20 months after 346 people were killed in a crash between 2018 and 2019.

Families of those killed in the crashes have called for a public trial, which would allow for more scrutiny of the company.

“When another Boeing crash inevitably occurs and the Justice Department seeks to assign responsibility, it will have no choice but to look in the mirror,” Erin Applebaum, a lawyer for some of the families, told Newsweek after the proposed settlement was announced.

Once a flagship of American manufacturing, Boeing has been tarnished by a series of recent fiascos, including the grounding of its Starliner spacecraft on the International Space Station and the explosion of a mid-air panel on an Alaska Air Boeing in January.

Boeing had already avoided potential charges over the 737 Max deaths in 2021 by agreeing to a settlement of more than $2.5 billion.

However, last May, the Justice Department determined that the company had failed to “design, implement, and enforce” a compliance and ethics program to detect and prevent violations of U.S. fraud laws, exposing the company to criminal liability.

The outcome of the Boeing case could impact the aerospace giant’s ability to qualify for lucrative government contracts.