Boeing to pay 235m euros fine, plead guilty over 737 MAX crashes

According to Reuters, Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges and pay a fine of 235 million euros to end the US Department of Justice investigation into two fatal 737 MAX crashes.

"The plea deal, which requires a judge's approval, would brand the planemaker a convicted felon in connection with crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia over a five-month period in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people," Reuters reports.

The agency adds that the settlement has met with criticism from the victims' families, who wanted Boeing to face a trial and bear more severe financial consequences.

As part of the agreement, the aircraft manufacturer agreed to spend at least 439 million euros over the next three years on enhancing safety and compliance programs. The agency reports that Boeing's board will have to meet with the relatives of those who died in the crashes.

After the 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, Boeing settled with the Department of Justice in 2021, avoiding prosecution on charges of misleading federal regulators.

Boeing accused two relatively low-level employees of fraud. However, as the head of the Department of Justice's fraud division wrote in a court filing, Boeing did not implement the promised changes that would facilitate preventing violations of federal anti-fraud regulations, thus breaching the settlement terms.

According to the Department of Justice, this provision means that the aircraft manufacturer can be prosecuted "for any federal criminal violation of which the United States has knowledge," including the fraud charge the company hoped to avoid through the settlement.