Boeing pleads guilty, will invest $455 million in safety, and face probation for three years

Boeing has pleaded guilty in the criminal case brought against the airline manufacturer for two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max jetliners, a Department of Justice court filing shared on Sunday night.

The court filing outlined the deal reached by Boeing and prosecutors. Along with pleading guilty, Boeing has agreed to pay a fine of $487.2 million as well as invest $455 in its safety and compliance programs.

The case was being handled in the Federal District Court of the Northern District of Texas, and the deal is still awaiting approval from the judge overseeing the case.

The agreement was filed hours ahead of the deadline for Boeing to respond to the offer and avert a criminal trial.

The airline manufacturer has been in the spotlight for the majority of this year for other safety-related incidents, though this case involved two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.

The Department of Justice had been investigating a 2021 settlement in those cases and found that Boeing had violated it.

Prosecutors said that in 2021, Boeing allegedly committed a conspiracy to defraud the government by misleading regulators about a flight-control system involved in the crashes.

Under the settlement reached in 2021, the DOJ agreed not to prosecute the company on the crash for three years, but in May, it found the terms of the agreement had been breached.

As for the deal reached on Sunday night, Boeing will also be independently monitored for its safety and quality procedures for the next three years to ensure standards are being met and kept.

However, the plea deal only covers Boeing’s wrongdoing before the crashes. It does not provide immunity for its other aforementioned incidents, the filing shared.

Currently, the Federal Aviation Administration is continuing to investigate the company as it has grounded all 737 Max 9 aircraft.

The FAA found issues with the company’s safety checks and manufacturing process, resulting in growing pressure on the airline manufacturer to address the problems.