Boeing agrees to pay USD2.5 billion over 737 Max fraud conspiracy charges
Boeing has entered into agreement to pay a total criminal monetary amount of over USD2.5 billion, the US Department of Justice disclosed on January 7, 2021. Criminal information filed at northern district of Texas, Under the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), charges Boeing of conspiracy to defraud the united states.
The total USD2.5 billion, is composed of a criminal monetary penalty of USD243.6 million, compensation payments to Boeing’s 737 MAX airline customers of USD1.77 billion, and the establishment of a USD500 million crash-victim beneficiaries fund to compensate the heirs, relatives, and legal beneficiaries of the 346 passengers who died in the Boeing 737 MAX crashes of Indonesia’s Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
“Boeing’s employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operation of its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception. This resolution holds Boeing accountable for its employees’ criminal misconduct, addresses the financial impact to Boeing’s airline customers, and hopefully provides some measure of compensation to the crash-victims’ families and beneficiaries,” stated Acting Assistant Attorney General David P. Burns of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Boeing Max products were grounded in 59 airlines, to which the company pays compensation, apart from the families of the deceased in Indonesian and Ethiopian demised flights. All 157 passengers lost their lives during Flight 302 and 189 in Flight 610.
