A federal judge in Texas rejected a motion plea agreement The US government's claims against the company will be settled between the Justice Department and Boeing following the crashes of two 737 Max jetliners that killed 346 people, according to a court order issued Thursday.
In his ruling, Judge Reed O'Connor took issue with both the lack of judicial oversight and some of the diversity requirements included in the deal's independent monitoring process, and ordered the parties to provide the court with a plan for possible approaches as early as next month. .
Federal government's proposed agreement with the airplane manufacturing giant fatal accidents It contains various provisions, including pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and a fine of $243.6 million – much less than the fine. billions The deal that the victims' families had pleaded for would also require Boeing to spend $455 million on safety programs and work with an independent monitor who would monitor the company's progress.
Investigators alleged in court records that Boeing deceived federal officials who controlled the planes to blame for the crashes. In 2021, Boeing and the Justice Department entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, which meant that criminal charges would have been dropped if Boeing had complied with the terms of the deal. But earlier this year, federal prosecutors informed the court that Boeing had not complied with all requirements and intended to pursue the case.
By July, after several weeks of negotiations, Boeing and the Justice Department settled on a proposed plea agreement, sparking outrage among the families of those killed in the crashes. At the time, CBS News reported that the deal only covered wrongdoing by Boeing related to the crashes and did not give the company immunity for other incidents, including a crash. door panel Who blew up a Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. According to a Justice Department official, the proposed settlement did not involve any current or former Boeing executives, only the corporation itself.
Attorneys for some of the victims' families opposed the deal and argued that the “poor” settlement with the government did not properly resolve the families' claims against Boeing. In court filings, they accused Boeing of greater criminality and urged tougher penalties, stricter oversight and recognition of the lives lost.
In rejecting the plea agreement, the judge took aim at the diversity, equity and inclusion considerations that the parties had said they would adopt when appointing an independent monitor. He wrote that he was “concerned by the government's varying and contradictory interpretations of how the diversity and inclusion provisions of the plea agreement in this case would work in practice.”
Judge O'Connor had previously raised the issue and in response court filings, the Justice Department defended the language, arguing that it predates the Boeing agreement. He said, “This new language reflects not a change in policy but the principle that has always governed the process: Selection of a monitor should be based solely on merit from the widest possible pool of qualified candidates.”
O'Connor ruled Thursday that the language was inappropriate: “In a case of this magnitude, it is in the utmost interest of justice that the public have confidence that this monitor selection has been made solely on the merits of the parties. The efforts only serve to undermine this confidence in the government and Boeing's ethics and anti-fraud efforts.”
The judge also wrote that previous efforts by the Justice Department to monitor Boeing's conduct had “failed” and said that the independent monitoring provision in the proposed deal does not go far enough to involve the court in the process.
“At this point, the public interest requires the Court to intervene. Marginalizing the Court in the selection and oversight of the independent monitor, because the plea agreement undermines public confidence in Boeing's probation, undermines respect for the law.” fails to promote, and is therefore not in the public interest,” O'Connor wrote. “Accordingly, the Court cannot accept the plea agreement.”
The Justice Department said it was reviewing the decision. Boeing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a statement, Paul Cassell, an attorney for some of the victims' families, told CBS News, “Judge O'Connor recognized that this was a comfortable deal between the government and Boeing that failed to focus on the major concerns – stopping Boeing. Failed to be held accountable for his deadly crime and to ensure that nothing like this happens again in the future.”
Contributed to this report.