Boeing Co. will avoid a criminal charge over two fatal 737 Max crashes after a federal judge paved the way for a $1.1 billion settlement agreement, handing the embattled manufacturer a victory in a long-running legal battle.
US District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth on Thursday granted a request from the US Justice Department to dismiss its criminal case against Boeing and approved a non-prosecution agreement struck by the parties. The deal requires the planemaker to pay fines and to compensate family members of crash victims.
In his , the judge said the new agreement “fails to secure the necessary accountability to ensure the safety of the flying public.” But O’Connor said he lacks the authority to reject the agreement because prosecutors did not act in bad faith in executing the deal.
“Poor discretion may not be countered with judicial overreach,” O’Connor said. “The court acknowledges that it does not have the authority to deny leave because it disagrees with the government that dismissing the criminal information in this case is in the public interest.”
Long Legal Fight
The decision marks a milestone in Boeing’s effort to move on from the two fatal 737 Max crashes that battered the company’s finances and reputation. Early last year, the manufacturer suffered another near-catastrophic accident with a factory-new 737 Max, pushing Boeing even deeper into crisis and prompting a management shakeup.
Boeing hired Kelly Ortberg as its new chief executive officer, who has since focused on operational standards as he tries to remake the manufacturer’s culture and weed out poor manufacturing and accountability on the factory shop floor.
“We are committed to honoring the obligations of our agreement with the Department of Justice,” Boeing said in a statement. “We are also committed to continuing the significant efforts we have made as a company to strengthen our safety, quality, and compliance programs.”
Boeing rose as much as 1.8% after the announcement, before paring gains and trading little changed. The stock has increased 11% in value this year.
Conspiracy Charge
The ruling resolves Boeing’s long-running legal battle over a criminal conspiracy charge related to the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019 that killed 346 people. Both fatal accidents were linked to a flawed flight control system.
Relatives of some crash victims opposed the deal and sought harsher penalties for Boeing and executives at the company. Earlier this year, they had asked O’Connor to appoint a special prosecutor to take over the case. Some family members have said they do not oppose the agreement.
Attorney Paul Cassell, who represents some of the relatives, said he intends to file an emergency motion asking the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals to review the judge’s decision.
“Judge O’Connor recognized that there are, in his words, ‘compelling’ arguments against the non-prosecution deal,” Cassell said in a statement. “But he reluctantly concluded that he was powerless to do anything about the reprehensible deal. We believe that the courts don’t have to stand silently by while an injustice is perpetrated.”
Under the settlement, Boeing will admit to the underlying accusation of “conspiracy to obstruct and impede the lawful operation of the Federal Aviation Administration Aircraft Evaluation Group,” but that admission does not constitute a guilty plea.
The agreement requires Boeing to pay a total of $1.1 billion in assorted fines and fees. The total includes:
- $487.2 million for a criminal penalty, half of which the company already paid to the government during an earlier phase of the case
- $444.5 million for a new “Crash-Victims Beneficiaries Fund” that will be divided evenly by crash victim
- $455 million in investments to bolster its compliance, safety and quality programs
Boeing will be required to retain a so-called independent compliance consultant to oversee its efforts to improve the effectiveness of its anti-fraud compliance and ethics program. The consultant will be expected to make recommendations for improvements and report their findings directly to the government.
First Deal
The case has been ongoing since 2021, when Boeing reached an agreement with the Justice Department to defer prosecution on a charge that it deceived regulators about a system linked to the crashes.
Under that deal, Boeing paid a $243.6 million fine. In early 2024, two days before the charge would’ve been dismissed, a door-sized plug blew out of an airborne 737 Max. While no one was killed, the accident led to investigations and findings of lax controls in Boeing’s factories.
The government said Boeing violated the 2021 agreement and recommended a criminal charge. Boeing agreed to plead , pay a fine and install an independent corporate monitor. The agreement also would have required the company spend at least $455 million to bolster its compliance and safety programs.
But that proposal was in December by O’Connor. He said the agreement diminished his role in ensuring Boeing lived up to its promises and that the process for selecting an independent monitor would rely on diversity, equity and inclusion policies, which the judge claimed would improperly impose race on the hiring decision.
In March, O’Connor ordered Boeing to t in June. Ahead of the scheduled trial date, prosecutors announced the new settlement with the planemaker that would resolve the case.
The case is US v. Boeing, , US District Court, Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth).
Photo: A Boeing 737 Max Photographer: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
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