Justice Department officials must decide by July 7 whether to bring charges, according to two unnamed officials who spoke with Reuters, which first reported the story. Last month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Boeing failed to meet the terms of a 2021 settlement after the company misled regulators about the safety of its aircraft following a 2018 crash in Indonesia and another crash the following year in Ethiopia. Under that deal, the DOJ agreed not to prosecute Boeing as long as the company re-worked its compliance practices, submitted regular reports to federal officials, and paid $2.5 billion in fines. The unnamed sources did not specify what criminal charges the Justice Department is considering, but one told Reuters “they could extend beyond the original 2021 fraud conspiracy charge.” On June 27, when the Reuters report was published, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sanctioned Boeing after the company “blatantly violated” its agreement with the NTSB by revealing details of a federal investigation into a 737 MAX mid-air blowout, the NTSB said in a statement. During a media briefing Tuesday about quality improvements at Boeing, a company executive dispensed investigative information with an analysis of details previously released, the NTSB said. “Both of these actions are prohibited by the party agreement that Boeing signed when it was offered party status by the NTSB at the start of the investigation,” the NTSB added. According to the briefing, the transportation agency will subpoena Boeing to appear at an investigative hearing scheduled for August. “Given that Boeing is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice in relation to its Deferred Prosecution Agreement stemming from Boeing’s interactions with the FAA prior to the Boeing MAX fatalities, the NTSB will be coordinating with the DOJ Fraud Division to provide details about Boeing’s recent unauthorized investigative information releases in the 737 MAX 9 door plug investigation,” the NTSB said.Federal prosecutors are recommending to top Justice Department officials that criminal charges be filed against Boeing after the company violated a settlement that required the plane-maker to establish a program to detect violations of anti-fraud laws.
