US should take Boeing to trial in 737 MAX fraud case, lawyer says

The U.S. Justice Department should take Boeing to trial in a criminal fraud case stemming from two fatal 737 MAX crashes and reject a tentative deal to allow the planemaker to avoid prosecution, a lawyer for some of the victims' families said.

Lawyer Paul Cassell said in a letter to the Justice Department on Thursday seen by Reuters that allowing Boeing to evade a trial or guilty plea would be a miscarriage of justice.

"In this case any further concessions to Boeing would be utterly inappropriate. This case is the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history, as found by Judge O’Connor," Cassell wrote, referring to U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor.

Cassell added that the government's proposal would effectively allow Boeing to become its own probation officer by allowing it to avoid an independent monitor and instead hire its own compliance consultant.

The department outlined the tentative deal Friday and said Saturday victims' families would have until Thursday to file written objections.

The agreement would forestall a June 23 trial the planemaker faces on a fraud charge it misled the Federal Aviation Administration about a crucial flight control system on the 737 MAX, its best-selling jet.

The agreement would allow Boeing to avoid being branded a convicted felon.

Boeing declined to comment and the Justice Department did not immediately comment.

Boeing agreed in July to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, spanning 2018 and 2019, and to pay a fine of up to $487.2 million.

Cassell noted Thursday that then Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun signed the 2021 deferred prosecution agreement.

"Given Boeing’s 'confession' to all of the relevant facts of the crime -- signed by its CEO -- the risk of an acquittal at trial is essentially 0%," Cassell wrote.

The Justice Department told families Friday that Boeing would be asked to pay an additional $444.5 million into a crash victims’ fund divided evenly per crash victim, lawyers for the families said, on top of $500 million Boeing paid in 2021.

Boeing has faced enhanced scrutiny from the FAA since January 2024, when a new MAX 9 missing four key bolts suffered a mid-air emergency losing a door plug. The FAA has capped production at 38 planes per month.