(StraightNews.org) – The Justice Department has announced that airline manufacturer Boeing pleaded guilty to criminal fraud conspiracy charges to resolve investigations into fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. The company is now reportedly negotiating with the Defense Department amid concerns that the guilty plea may impact its contracts with the federal government.
Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder did not confirm the discussions but told reporters that Boeing contracts would undergo fresh assessments. “The Department of Defense will evaluate the company’s remediation plans and agreement with the Department of Justice,” Ryder said.
In its most recent annual report, Boeing stated that government contracts accounted for 37% of last year’s revenue. Ben Tsocanos, airlines director at S&P Global Ratings, said he expects that little will change and Boeing will remain the leading supplier of aircraft to the US government.
Boeing also supplies the Canadian government, and officials there said they will “assess implications” of the company’s guilty plea.
Commentators suggest that Boeing executives agreed to the plea deal because a lengthy public trial would ultimately cause more damage to its reputation. Victims’ family members, however, are unhappy about the agreement, with some suggesting they will file federal lawsuits asking for the deal to be thrown out. Paul Cassell, representing 15 families, said the arrangement was “clearly not in the public interest” and called for a trial to take place as soon as possible.
Under the new arrangement, Boeing must pay a $243 million fine and invest a minimum of $455 million to improve its safety standards.
The case opened in 2021 when federal prosecutors accused the manufacturing giant of misleading lawmakers about a flight control system that was implicated in the two tragedies.
In 2018, a Lion Air flight crashed into the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia, killing 189 people. The following year, 157 died when an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed on take-off from Addis Ababa.
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