Families of Boeing 737 Max crash victims have pleaded with a US federal court to ensure the aerospace company faces prosecution for the tragic events. A hearing was held in Texas, where a judge considered the US government’s motion to dismiss its criminal case against Boeing. The case stems from two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, which killed 346 people.
US District Chief Judge Reed O’Connor allocated time for relatives to speak during the three-hour hearing. Some family members traveled from Europe and Africa to attend, seeking justice for their loved ones who died in the disasters off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia. Nadia Milleron, whose 24-year-old daughter Samya Stumo was killed in the Ethiopian crash, expressed her concerns. “My daughter died on a new airplane that was defective and in operation because they weren’t complying with regulations and because of fraud,” she said. Milleron added, “I don’t want any other family member to lose their loved ones because of this kind of fraud.”
Boeing is charged with conspiracy to defraud the government, a felony offense. Prosecutors allege that the company misled Federal Aviation Administration regulators about a flight-control system implicated in the fatal flights. The judge will issue a decision on the dismissal motion at a later date.
The hearing comes over four years after the Justice Department announced it had charged Boeing and reached a $2.5 billion settlement. However, prosecutors revived the charge last year, citing the company’s failure to comply with certain terms of the agreement. Boeing had decided to plead guilty as part of a separate agreement, but Judge O’Connor rejected the deal in December, citing concerns over diversity policies and the selection of an independent monitor.
In May, the two sides struck a new deal, which takes the criminal charge and Boeing’s guilty plea off the table. In exchange, Boeing will pay or invest an additional $1.1 billion in fines, compensation for the crash victims’ families, and internal safety and quality measures. The Justice Department offered these terms in light of “significant changes” Boeing has made to its quality control and anti-fraud programs. Some families of victims oppose the agreement, seeking a special prosecutor to take over the case, while others support resolving the case before it reaches trial. The Justice Department has asked the judge to leave open the possibility of refiling the conspiracy charge if Boeing does not uphold its end of the deal over the next two years.
