Boeing pleaded not guilty in 737 Max crash fraud case

As reported Bloombergthis Thursday Boeing declared not guilty over allegations that the manufacturer misled federal authorities about the safety of its planes 737MAX, after two fatal accidents in 2018 and 2019; after a judge ruled that the families of the victims have the right to challenge a massive $2.5 billion settlement the company agreed to in 2021.

It comes just over two years after Boeing reached an agreement with the Justice Department worth of 2,500 million dollars in 2021, in which he admitted to conspiring to defraud the rating agency of the federal aviation administration about the safety of its 737 MAX aircraft, in exchange for immunity from prosecution if it complies with the terms of their agreement.

However, the federal district judge Reed O’Connor ruled last October that the 346 people killed in the two car accidents Indonesia and Ethiopia are victims of crime and that the Justice Department failed to inform the families about the department’s dealings with Boeing, thus violating the Federal Law of Rights of Victims of Crimes.

Lawyers representing relatives of some of the passengers killed in the two accidents had accused the company of the “deadliest corporate crime in US history”in a brief filed Wednesday.

look also

The families of the victims are asking that a court-appointed supervisor assess whether Boeing is making safety improvements after the accidents, and that the company be “processed to the last consequences”He said attorney for the families, Paul G. Cassell, as reported by various media.

look also

Boeing launched its 737 MAX business jet in 2017 but was forced to ground its fleet around the world after a deadly crash in Ethiopia in March 2019 that killed 157 people on board. That crash came five months after another flight on a Boeing 737 MAX plane killed 189 people, and both crashes were due to a failure in the planes’ flight control system.

look also

The FAA cleared the 737 MAX jets for flights almost two years later, in November 2020, deeming the planes safe for passengers.

It should also be remembered that last September Boeing agreed to pay 200 million dollars the past to settle the accusations of the Securities and Exchange Commission that he had allegedly misled investors with materially misleading public statements, after the two fatal accidents of his 737 MAX plane; and that he knew that the first of the two accidents had been caused, at least in part, by a malfunction in his flight control function.

look also

Instead, Boeing had told the public that the crash was due to pilot error and insufficient aircraft maintenance, and did not publicly disclose the results of an internal safety review that found an “aircraft safety issue,” it said. the sec.

Note published in Forbes US.