As a result, Boeing has entered a guilty plea to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge.
The plane manufacturer also consented, according to the Department of Justice (DoJ), to pay
$243.6 million (£190 million) in criminal penalties.
The relatives of those who perished on the flights five years prior, however, have denounced it as a “sweetheart deal” that would absolve Boeing of all liability for the fatalities. It was described as an “atrocious abomination” by one.
A US judge must now approve the settlement.
Boeing will avoid the spectacle of a criminal trial by entering a guilty plea; the relatives of the victims have been through it.
Since two almost identical 737 Max airplane crashes in 2018 and 2019, the company’s safety record has come under scrutiny. As a result, the aircraft was grounded for over a year worldwide.
Prosecutors accused Boeing of lying to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about its MCAS flight control system, which was involved in both crashes, and filed a single case of conspiracy to defraud regulators against the company in 2021.
If Boeing paid a fine and successfully finished a three-year period of intensified monitoring and reporting, it consented not to pursue the firm.
