Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two deadly crashes of 737 Max jetliners after the government determined the company violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years, the Justice Department said Sunday night.

Federal prosecutors gave Boeing the choice this week of entering a guilty plea and paying a fine as part of its sentence or facing a trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Prosecutors accused the American aerospace giant of deceiving regulators who approved the airplane and pilot-training requirements for it.

The plea deal, which still must receive the approval of a federal judge to take effect, calls for Boeing to pay an additional $243.6 million fine. That was the same amount it paid under the 2021 settlement that the Justice Department said the company breached. An independent monitor would be named to oversee Boeing’s safety and quality procedures for three years.

The plea deal covers only wrongdoing by Boeing before the crashes, which killed all 346 passengers and crew members aboard two new Max jets. It does not give Boeing immunity for other incidents, including a panel that blew off a Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, a Justice Department official said.

  • MagicShel@programming.dev
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    12 days ago

    What I said was in the first sentence. Biden named him attorney general precisely for his milquetoast qualities. He didn’t want anyone controversial - someone who might get some real shit done.

    So to be completely blunt, Biden is the reason we have an attorney general with no teeth. I actually think Biden has been a great President overall, but that decision was one I disagreed thoroughly with.

    • Snapz@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      He was originally nominated for SCOTUS by Obama to be that centrist pick.

      But he was hired by Biden as AG after having that opportunity permanent denied him, embarrassingly and publicly, with the thought being that he’d be ready to pursue the types of people that used his legacy as a pawn with vigor. When he was nominated, general thought back then was that he may be ready to pursue his work with more intention as a result of what had transgressed.

      If not for the Obama nomination and SCOTUS denial I would agree with you, but there was supposed to be more to him after having endured the gop’s horseshit, when in any other time in our history he would have just been a rubber stamp approval. Garland probably would have been a good Supreme Court Justice for the same reasons he’s a horrible failure as AG.

      • MagicShel@programming.dev
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        12 days ago

        Garland probably would have been a good Supreme Court Justice for the same reasons he’s a horrible failure as AG.

        On that we are in complete agreement.