Updated May 23, 2025 at 3:16 PM MDT
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice told a federal judge on Friday that it had reached an agreement in principle with Boeing to drop a criminal case over two fatal crashes of 737 MAX jets, despite objections from family members of some crash victims.
It's the latest turn in a long-running legal saga following the fatal crashes of two 737 MAX jets, in 2018 and 2019, that killed 346 people.
The Justice Department reached a deferred prosecution agreement with Boeing in 2021, during the first Trump administration. But prosecutors changed course under President Biden, reviving the criminal case against the aerospace giant. Boeing agreed last year to plead guilty to defrauding regulators, but a federal judge rejected that proposed plea deal.
Now the Justice Department has reached another agreement that would allow Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution.
In a court filing, DOJ lawyers called the agreement "a fair and just resolution that serves the public." The deal "guarantees further accountability and substantial benefits from Boeing immediately, while avoiding the uncertainty and litigation risk presented by proceeding to trial," they wrote.
The DOJ said it laid out the terms of the latest deal in a meeting with family members of the victims and their lawyers last week. Some of those family members supported the deal, according to the department's filing.
But lawyers for other family members say they're outraged by the agreement.
"With this filing, the DOJ walks away from any pretense to seek justice for the victims of the 737 MAX crashes," said Javier de Luis, an aerospace engineer and lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who lost his sister in the second MAX crash.
"In spite of the mountains of reports and investigations over the last six years documenting wrongdoing by Boeing, DOJ is claiming that they cannot prove that anybody did anything wrong. The message sent by this action to companies around the country is, don't worry about making your products safe for your customers," de Luis said in a statement.
Under this deal, Boeing will pay or invest more than $1.1 billion, according to the DOJ, including $444.5 million for a crash victims' fund and more than $240 million as an additional criminal fine.
Boeing would also admit to "conspiracy to obstruct and impede the lawful operation" of regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the DOJ filing. And the company would retain an independent compliance consultant that would report its findings to the government.
"The Department has met extensively with the crash victims' families. While they are all experiencing grief, they hold a broad set of views regarding the resolution, ranging from support to disagreement," a Justice Department spokesman said in a statement. "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."
Boeing declined to comment.
Under the plea agreement announced last year, Boeing had agreed to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to defraud regulators about the safety of its planes. But federal Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas objected to the framework that Boeing and the Justice Department crafted to select an independent monitor, insisting the court should play a bigger role in selecting that monitor.
A lawyer for the families said they would urge Judge O'Connor to reject this agreement, as well.
"This kind of non-prosecution deal is unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history," said Paul Cassell, a law professor at the University of Utah and former federal judge who is representing the families of the victims for free. "My families will object and hope to convince the court to reject it."
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