The Department of Justice dropped its felony case against Boeing on Friday for the company’s role in two fatal crashes that killed over 300 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
The two sides agreed to a tentative nonprosecution agreement last week that compensates the victims. The agreement put $444.5 million into a crash victims’ fund that would be divided evenly between the victims, on top of an additional $243.6 million fine for the company.
While Boeing will have to “admit to conspiracy to obstruct and impede” federal regulators, the DOJ will ask the judge to dismiss the case with the option of refiling charges later.
“On top of the financial investments, Boeing must continue to improve the effectiveness of its anti-fraud compliance and ethics program and retain an independent compliance consultant,” a Justice Department spokesperson told Politico.
The company entered into a plea agreement last year, agreeing to plead guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to defraud the government, pay a total of around $500 million in fines, and have a third-party monitor the company.
The victims expressed devastation at the news.
“[Attorney General] Pam Bondi being afraid to try a case where she has a admission of guilt already from the deferred prosecution agreement, and really that means she’s not protecting the public against [Boeing],” 60-year-old Nadia Milleron, whose 24-year-old daughter died in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines plane crash, told the Washington Examiner in a phone call.
Milleron, who ran for Congress in 2024 in Massachusetts’s First Congressional District and captured almost 40% of the vote in her independent bid against longtime Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), said she felt “angry and astounded.”
“It’s not just individuals that commit crime. Corporations commit crime, too,” she said.
Milleron went to the DOJ on Thursday but could not get a meeting with Bondi, as she had aimed to. She waited in the rain for a response from the higher-ups in the department because she didn’t have an appointment, until she couldn’t wait anymore. Those with phone contacts and appointments waited in the lobby or called outside, but Milleron only had email contacts, which she said didn’t respond to her inquiries.
One of the lawyers for the family objected to the agreement between Boeing and the government.
“This kind of non-prosecution deal is unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history. My families will object and hope to convince the court to reject it,” the families’ pro bono lawyer, Paul Cassell, said in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner.
While the government may have found its resolution with Boeing, the victims say money will never be enough to make up for the loss of their loved ones.
“For me, I will never get rid of my pain and my tears. By deciding not to prosecute Boeing and not to take it to court, the government is sending a message to the public that big companies are above the law and justice, even when they kill,” Catherine Berthet of France, who lost her 28-year-old daughter in the Ethiopian crash, said in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner.
The DOJ told Politico that the victims hold “a broad set of views” concerning the resolution of the case, “ranging from support to disagreement.”
“Nothing will diminish the victims’ losses, but this resolution holds Boeing financially accountable, provides finality and compensation for the families and makes an impact for the safety of future air travelers,” the DOJ added.
The victims and their lawyers will have to wait to see if the judge will grant the motion to dismiss the case.
Boeing’s 737 MAX series has generated considerable consumer fear due to its highly publicized accidents and crashes. On Jan. 5, 2024, a door panel blew out of a 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines, reviving fear around flying on the company’s planes. Boeing says it has made considerable changes to the aircraft to make it safer, including to its problematic Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System flight systems, which were partially responsible for the two plane crashes.
“This required software function operates in unusual flight conditions only and now relies on two sensors, activates only once and never overrides pilots’ ability to control the airplane,” the company says on its website.
DOJ REACHES TENTATIVE NONPROSECUTION AGREEMENT WITH BOEING FOR 737 MAX8 CRASHES
Milleron’s daughter, Samya Rose Stumo, who was known as “an emerging leader in global health,” was aboard a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft when she died.
Milleron is deeply concerned about the MAX series aircraft. She was so concerned when she boarded a MAX aircraft unknowingly that when she saw and verified that it was a MAX aircraft, she got off the plane and waited overnight in the airport for the next flight.