Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States government in relation to the fatal crashes of B737-8s in 2018 and 2019, and will pay a fine of up to USD243.6m to avoid a criminal trial.
As part of the deal, Boeing will accept a government-appointed independent monitor for three years and invest USD455m in compliance and safety programmes to strengthen their operations.
After pleading guilty, Boeing will become a felon and need to seek waivers for any future contracts with the US Department of Defence and other government agencies.
The plea deal does not provide immunity to any individual employees and only resolves misconduct that predated the B737 MAX crashes, excluding other corporate conduct like the Alaska Airlines incident in January 2024. The final plea deal is expected by July 19, 2024, and has faced criticism from families of crash victims who want Boeing to face a criminal trial.
