US DOJ says it has made substantial progress toward final Boeing plea agreement

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday the government has made "substantial progress" toward reaching a final plea agreement with Boeing but does not expect to file the details before July 24.

The planemaker on July 7 agreed in principle to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and pay a fine of $243.6 million after the Justice Department said in May the company had breached a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement.

The department plans to file a factual statement supporting its breach determination with the plea deal, which it had initially expected to file by Friday. DOJ said it "will continue to work expeditiously in an effort to file" by July 24.

Boeing declined to comment on Thursday.

Boeing plans to plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration after the government said the planemaker knowingly made false representations about key software for the 737 MAX linked to two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.

U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas on Monday set a fast schedule to consider the objections to the plea deal from relatives of those killed in the MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

As part of the deal, Boeing agreed to spend at least $455 million over the next three years to boost safety and compliance programs. Boeing's board will also meet with relatives of those killed in the MAX crashes.

The deal also imposes an independent monitor, who will have to publicly file annual progress reports, to oversee the firm's compliance. Boeing will be on probation during the monitor's three-year term.

The MAX crashes led to a 20-month grounding of Boeing's best-selling plane and cost the company more than $20 billion.

O'Connor previously criticized Boeing, saying in 2023: "Boeing's crime may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history."

A panel blew off a new MAX 9 jet during a Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines flight two days before the 2021 deferred agreement that shielded the company from prosecution expired.

Boeing faces a separate ongoing criminal probe into the Alaska Airlines incident, which did not result in any serious injuries, as well as a two-day National Transportation Safety Board hearing next month.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Jamie Freed)