The Department of Justice said Boeing broke an agreement that protected the aircraft maker from prosecution after two fatal 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019, the federal agency said in a letter to a federal judge Tuesday.
The DOJ found Boeing breached its agreement with the agency by “failing to design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws throughout its operations.”
Boeing and the DOJ signed a three-year Deferred Prosecution Agreement on January 6, 2021 that allowed the aircraft maker to avoid criminal charges over its role in the crashes. The company made the deal in exchange for paying over $2.5 billion in penalties to 737 Max airline customers and the crash victims.
The company has until June 13 to address and remediate the situation, the letter stated. The DOJ, meanwhile, will decide how to proceed regarding possible charges no later than July 7.
The deferred prosecution agreement allowed Boeing to avoid criminal charges after the company admitted to defrauding federal regulators over the 737 Max’s flight stabilization software, called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, as it was being approved. The MCAS is believed to have contributed to two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 involving their 737 Max aircraft, killing 346 people.
Boeing rebuked the DOJ's findings in a response Tuesday.
“We believe that we have honored the terms of that agreement, and look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue,” Boeing said in a statement to Manufacturing Dive. “As we do so, we will engage with the Department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident.”
In February, the Justice Department initiated its investigation into whether the aircraft maker violated its deferred prosecution agreement after a door plug on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 blew out midair the month before.
The DOJ has notified the victims and airline customers of its decision regarding the agreement breach and will meet with the victims at the end of the month.