Boeing will pay $2.5B to settle 737 Max probe

Boeing will pay $2.5 billion to settle a Justice Department investigation and admit that employees misled regulators about the safety of its 737 Max aircraft, which suffered two deadly crashes shortly after entering airline service.

The government and the company said Thursday that the settlement includes money for the crash victims’ families, airline customers and a fine.

Prosecutors said Boeing employees gave misleading statements and half-truths about safety issues with the plane to the Federal Aviation Administration, then covered up their actions.

“Boeing’s employees chose the path of profit over candor,” said David Burns, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s criminal division.

Boeing blamed two former pilots who helped determine how much training was needed for the Max. CEO David Calhoun said their conduct doesn’t reflect Boeing employees as a whole.

“This is a substantial settlement of a very serious matter, and I firmly believe that entering into this resolution is the right thing for us to do — a step that appropriately acknowledges how we fell short of our values and expectations,” Calhoun said in a memo to employees.

The government will drop the criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. after three years if Boeing follows the terms of the settlement.

The settlement removes uncertainty about criminal charges against the U.S. aircraft maker, which is struggling to put the Max crisis behind it. Boeing still faces lawsuits by the families of passengers who died in the crashes, it has lost more than 1,000 orders for the Max, and its once-stellar reputation for engineering has suffered.