U.S.: No criminal conduct by execs over 737 Max

Government lawyers admitted the investigation into the Boeing 737 Max crashes didn’t turn up evidence of criminal wrong-doing by high-level company executives, rejecting a plea from family members of crash victims for more accountability.

Justice Department lawyers defended a controversial deferred plea agreement with Boeing this week in federal court in Fort Worth that resulted in $2.5 billion in fines but in which the government also declined to prosecute Boeing executives for their role in the two 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

The family members of a dozen victims are asking District Judge Reed O’Connor to toss the agreement with Boeing or at least to set aside the non-prosecution deal for executives. They say their rights were violated under a federal law that requires crime victims to be notified and conferred with before the government enters into a deal such as a deferred plea agreement.

O’Connor did not make an immediate ruling on the issue.

Lawyers for the government and Boeing defended the deal as seven family members of 737 Max crash victims watched from the gallery, hoping that someone would be held accountable for the cover-up at Boeing that defrauded aviation regulators and airlines over the flawed software systems that led to the accidents.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Jerrob Duffy started his arguments by apologizing to the family members of crash victims on behalf of the Justice Department, but said it stands by the agreement with Boeing.

“We did not find evidence of highlevel criminal offenses by high-level officials,” Duffy said.

Duffy also said the Justice Department was wrong for telling family members of crash victims in 2019 that there was no criminal investigation into Boeing and that it should have kept them updated, even though there was no legal obligation to do so.