Boeing pleads not guilty to fatal Max plane crash

FORT WORTH, Texas – Boeing pleaded not guilty Thursday to fraud charges in an unusual case in which the families of passengers killed in two plane crashes are trying to back out of a settlement the company has reached to avoid prosecution.

In a hearing dominated by emotional, harrowing testimony from passengers’ relatives, a federal district judge accepted the plea and ordered Boeing not to break any laws next year.

The judge delayed ruling on the families’ request to appoint a special observer to study safety issues at the aerospace giant. Boeing and the Justice Department opposed the request.

More than a dozen relatives of the passengers of the Boeing 737 Max that crashed in Ethiopia in 2019 — less than five months after the Max crash in Indonesia — have been open about their loss.

Boeing’s chief aerospace safety officer and company and Justice Department lawyers sat a few feet away from him, but didn’t react to any of the stories.

The Justice Department investigated Boeing after the second Max crash and settled in January 2021. As a result of the settlement, the government agreed not to prosecute Boeing for defrauding the United States by misleading the regulators that approved the aircraft. In return, the company paid $2.5 billion, including a $243.6 million fine.

Relatives of some of the 346 passengers who died in two separate Boeing 737 Max crashes spoke in front of a federal courthouse Thursday in Fort Worth. Families are still in shock.

“We want to see real justice, and this should be a manslaughter prosecution,” said Naoise Connolly Ryan, whose husband was on the second Max that crashed.

Nahid Nurmohamed, who lost his father on the same flight, said the justice ministry had let the families down by not taking into account their pain.

“This is not just a failure of justice, this is a failure of humanity,” he said.

“I am the voice of my wife and children. The only voice left of my wife and children,” said Paul Njoroge.

“I lost my father, Joseph Curia. He was 55 years old,” Tzipora Curia said.

The deferred prosecution agreement previously allowed Boeing to avoid prosecution for fraud charges.

Family members said they were never consulted prior to Boeing’s deal with the Trump-era Justice Department.

The DPA is demanding that Boeing create a culture of safety and ethics, as it promised the government.

“We have asked the judge to impose additional surveillance to further monitor the security measures that Boeing is taking,” said Paul Kassel, an attorney for the plaintiff.

An independent observer chosen by the court.

Cassell also filed a separate petition for much higher rates for Boeing executives.

“The other battle that remains before the judge is the request to prosecute Boeing and its then management, and the first step in that battle is to lift the immunity clause in the DPA.

Boeing said in a statement: “We deeply regret all those who lost loved ones on Lion Air Flights 610 and 302 in Ethiopia and deeply respect those who spoke out at today’s hearing.”

Boeing added that it is “committed to continuing to rigorously fulfill all of our obligations under the agreement we entered into with the Department of Justice two years ago.”

Families say they want justice for their loved ones.

Boeing and the Justice Department teamed up to oppose two of the proposed terms: a special monitor and the appointment of three passenger advocates to make a public report on the company.

The Arlington, Virginia-based company and government lawyers said the steps were not necessary because Boeing is in compliance with the terms of the settlement, called a deferred prosecution agreement, for two years.

Mark Philip, a lawyer for Boeing, said government oversight of the agreement is “robust” and working. Another Boeing attorney, Benjamin Hatch, said the company and the Justice Department meet at least once a month: “This is a very serious oversight.”

Boeing has faced civil lawsuits, congressional investigations and massive damage to its business following plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people in total.

Max’s first passenger flight was completed in 2017. The first disaster occurred in October 2018 in Indonesia, followed by another in March 2019 in Ethiopia.

Prior to both crashes, the automated flight control system, which Boeing did not initially inform airlines and pilots about, lowered its nose based on erroneous sensor readings. Boeing has accused two former employees of misleading the Federal Aviation Administration about the system, known by the acronym MCAS.

One of these former employees, a test pilot, is the only person to be prosecuted in connection with Max. Last year, a jury in O’Connor’s courtroom found him not guilty.