close
close

Doj can drop the case against Boeing due to the fatal 737 Max accidents despite the outrage of the families: NPR

Before a hearing in Fort Worth, Texas, relatives of victims organize a poster in January 2023 with photos of victims of the Flight 302 crash of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.

Shelby Tauber/AFP via Getty Images


Hide the caption

Switch the image signature

Shelby Tauber/AFP via Getty Images

Washington – According to lawyers, the Ministry of Justice is considering his criminal proceedings against Boeing against two fatal accidents of 737 maximum jets Family members of the crash victims who met with prosecutors on Friday.

Last year, Boeing agreed to confess to the supervisory authorities after the accidents of two 737 maximum jets in 2018 and 2019, in which 346 people were killed. But a federal judge leaned this proposed plea deal.

Now the Ministry of Justice weighs another agreement that would enable Boeing to avoid criminal persecution. Instead, the company would agree to a non-criminal agreement that would include $ 444.5 million for a crash victim fund.

Lawyers of some family members say they are outraged by the proposed deal and plan to combat it in court.

“This is not justice,” said Erin Applebaum, lawyer at the KRINDLER & KRINBLER law firm, in an explanation. “It is a binerroom deal that is disguised as a legal procedure and sends a dangerous message: in America, the rich and powerful can buy their way out of accountability.”

The Ministry of Justice did not answer a request for a comment. A spokesman for Boeing refused to comment.

As part of last year last year, Boeing had agreed to commit himself guilty, a single number of conspiracy that the supervisory authorities had cheated on the safety of its aircraft. However, the US district judge Reed O'Connor in Texas leaned against the framework that Boeing and the Ministry of Justice created to select an independent monitor.

The incumbent director of the DOJ Criminal Division fraud said that a final decision was not made, according to the lawyers of the family members.

“We hope that this bizarre plan will be rejected by the management of the department,” said Paul Cassell, a legal professor at the University of Utah and former federal judge, who represents the victims free of charge. In a statement, Cassell said that his customers would also ask judge O'Connor to reject this agreement.

“The discharge of the case would dishonor the memories of 346 victims who killed Boeing through his callus lies,” wrote Cassell.

Leave a Comment