In May, the department concluded the company was in violation of an agreement to avoid criminal charges.
This week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) received a letter from surviving family members of Boeing crash victims requesting that the department impose a maximum fine of $24 billion against the company. This came after the department’s recent ruling that Boeing violated the deferred prosecution agreement it reached with the department to avoid criminal conspiracy charges.
After two Boeing 747 airplanes crashed in 2018 and 2019 for similar reasons, killing 346 people, the Justice Department charged Boeing with criminal counts of fraud and conspiracy for attempting to cover up shortcomings in their plane production safety assessments. To avoid these criminal charges, Boeing entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the department in 2021, where the Justice Department allowed the company to avoid the charges if it agreed to “design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program.”
In May, the Justice Department concluded that Boeing had not adequately created a compliance program to avoid future safety violations after one of its planes, owned by Alaskan Airlines, had a door plug blow off mid-flight in January. This formally violated its agreement and reopened the criminal charges levied against the company.
The company is reportedly working with the Justice Department to avoid criminal charges.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For DOJ officials to be prudent in their evaluations of Boeing’s compliance with the agreement.
- For God’s comfort for the relatives of those lost in the Boeing plane crashes.
Sources: Reuters, NY Times
