The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering dropping criminal fraud charges against Boeing for the company’s alleged misconduct in relation to certifying the 737 Max.
DOJ attorneys revealed their “intent” to drop the charges during a 16 May discussion with relatives of victims killed in two 737 Max crashes, attorneys for those relatives say.
“During the morning meeting, the family members learned for the first time that the department apparently intends to back down from any criminal prosecution against the giant aircraft manufacturer,” says a statement from the families’ attorneys. “Instead, the department is apparently considering dismissing the case. Family members expressed outrage at the department’s latest proposal and promised to fight the manoeuvre.”
The DOJ has not made a final decision against a trial but has proposed instead reaching a non-prosecution agreement with Boeing, under which the manufacturer would pay $444.5 million into a “crash victims’ fund”, attorneys say.
That message was conveyed to relatives by DOJ representatives including acting chief of the DOJ’s criminal fraud division Lorinda Laryea, families’ attorneys say.
If an agreement is not reached, the case is set to go to a jury trial starting on 23 June before judge Reed O’Connor in US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Neither the DOJ nor Boeing responded to requests for comment.
“We hope that this bizarre plan will be rejected by the leadership of the department…If the department moves to dismiss the case – we will strenuously object before judge Connor,” says Paul Cassell, attorney representing some victims’ families. “Dismissing the case would dishonour the memories of 346 victims.”
DOJ attorneys are concerned they will not win the case and have cited a previous criminal trial against a former Boeing employee who had been indicted separately for his role in the alleged 737 Max certification fraud, says the person familiar with the matter.
A jury found that former Boeing employee, Mark Forkner, who had been chief technical pilot during the 737 Max’s certification campaign, not guilty in 2021.
The DOJ in 2021 charged Boeing with defrauding the FAA during certification of the Max, alleging that former employees failed to inform the regulator about critical aspects of the Max’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System.
That flight-control system put two 737 Max 8s – a Lion Air jet in October 2018 and an Ethiopian Airlines jet in March 2019 – into dives from which the pilots could not recover, killing all 346 people on both aircraft.
Boeing in 2021 initially sidestepped prosecution by signing a deferred prosecution agreement, but in 2024 the DOJ tore up that agreement after a Boeing manufacturing defect led to the in-flight failure of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9’s mid-cabin door plug in January that year.
The airframer then agreed to plead guilty under a new deal with the DOJ. But in December 2024, judge O’Connor threw out the guilty plea due to concerns related to a requirement that Boeing be subject to compliance monitoring.
That set the stage for a trial.
