New York (AFP) – A US federal judge on Monday cancelled the planned trial of US aviation giant Boeing over crashes of its 737 MAX aircraft that left nearly 350 people dead. The trial had been scheduled to begin June 23, but the Justice Department and Boeing reached a preliminary agreement last month to settle the long-running criminal probe into the accidents.
US District Judge Reed O’Connor granted the request of both parties to vacate the trial date and cancelled the criminal trial which had been scheduled to be held in Fort Worth, Texas. But the judge still must give his final approval to the settlement and he could reschedule a trial if he fails to give the deal his green light.
Under the agreement, which has drawn condemnation from some families of crash victims, Boeing will pay $1.1 billion and the Justice Department will dismiss a criminal charge over the company’s conduct in the certification of the MAX. The agreement resolves the case without requiring Boeing to plead guilty to fraud in the certification of the MAX, which was involved in two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that claimed 346 lives — a Lion Air plane and an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft.
The Justice Department described it as “a fair and just resolution that serves the public interest.” “The Agreement guarantees further accountability and substantial benefits from Boeing immediately, while avoiding the uncertainty and litigation risk presented by proceeding to trial,” it said. Family members of some MAX victims slammed the proposed settlement, however, as a giveaway to Boeing. “This kind of non-prosecution deal is unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in US history,” Paul Cassell, an attorney representing relatives of victims, said when the settlement was announced.
The Justice Department cited other family members who expressed a desire for closure, quoting one who said “the grief resurfaces every time this case is discussed in court or other forums.” The preliminary agreement was the latest development in a marathon case that came in the wake of crashes that tarnished Boeing’s reputation and contributed to leadership shakeups at the aviation giant.
– ‘Conspiracy to defraud’ – The case dates to a January 2021 Justice Department agreement with Boeing that settled charges that the company knowingly defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration during the MAX certification. The 2021 accord included a three-year probation period. But in May 2024, the Justice Department determined that Boeing had violated the 2021 accord following a number of subsequent safety lapses. Boeing agreed in July 2024 to plead guilty to “conspiracy to defraud the United States.”
But in December, Judge O’Connor rejected a settlement codifying the guilty plea, setting the stage for the incoming Trump administration to decide the next steps. The deal announced in May requires Boeing to pay a fine of $487.2 million with credit for a $243 million penalty the company paid previously under the January 2021 agreement. Boeing will contribute $444.5 million to a fund to benefit crash victims and lay out $455 million to strengthen its compliance, safety and quality programs.
© 2024 AFP
