Boeing to Face Criminal Charges
A federal judge has rescinded Boeing’s immunity agreement related to the two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. The Justice Department had originally reached the deferred prosecution agreement with Boeing in January 2019 in what Columbia Law Professor John Coffee described as “one of the worst deferred prosecution agreements I have seen.”
The case was brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Erin Nealy Cox, who in less than six months would join private practice with Kirkland & Ellis, Boeing’s lead corporate criminal defense law firm. Even after the victims’ families challenged the deferred prosecution agreement, prosecutors were seen “palling around” with Boeing attorneys.
The victims of the Boeing 737 MAX crashes sought to have the deferred prosecution agreement overturned for violating the Crime Victims’ Rights Act. The Justice Department, as required by the law, did not confer with the victims’ families.
Boeing will be arraigned on January 26, 2023 on the felony charge of conspiracy to defraud the FAA.
For more background, you can read these Corporate Crime Reporter articles
