Boeing to plead guilty in US probe of fatal 737 Max crashes

It will pay criminal fine of 328m; victims’ families seek prosecution of firm

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge to resolve a US Justice Department investigation linked to two 737 Max fatal crashes, a government official said on July 7.

The plea, which requires a federal judge's approval, would brand the planemaker a convicted felon. Boeing will also pay a criminal fine of US$243.6 million (S$328.4 million), a Department of Justice (DOJ) official said.

The charge relates to two 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia over a five-month period in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people and prompted the families of the victims to demand that Boeing face prosecution.

A guilty plea potentially threatens the company's ability to secure lucrative government contracts with the likes of the US Defence Department and Nasa, although it could seek waivers. Boeing became exposed to criminal prosecution after the DOJ in May found that the company had violated a 2021 settlement involving the fatal crashes.

Still, the plea spares Boeing a contentious trial that could have exposed to even greater public scrutiny many of the company's decisions leading up to the fatal Max plane crashes.