Mike Spector and David Shepardson
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Justice Department officials plan to decide as early as late May whether Boeing (NYSE:) violated an agreement that shielded the planemaker from criminal prosecution for fatal plane crashes in 2018 and 2019, people familiar with the matter said. the situation said the matter.
Justice Department officials released the schedule at a closed meeting Wednesday, where families of victims of two Boeing 737 MAX crashes demanded U.S. officials prosecute the planemaker.
The families argued that Boeing violated a 2021 agreement with prosecutors to overhaul its compliance program following the crashes that killed 346 people.
Federal prosecutors agreed to ask a judge to dismiss criminal charges against Boeing as long as the company complies with the terms of the deal for a three-year period.
However, a team of experts blew up a new Boeing 737 MAX 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5, just two days before the 2021 agreement expired.
Justice Department officials are now reviewing the incident as part of a broader investigation into whether Boeing violated the deal, known as a deferred prosecution agreement, or DPA, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
A government official at a meeting on Wednesday said the Justice Department would likely decide by the end of May whether it believes there was a violation or not, two sources told Reuters.
If the Justice Department determines there was a violation, they will hold another meeting to discuss next steps, such as extending the DPA, negotiating a plea deal or taking the case to trial, the sources said.
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Family members say an independent monitor is needed to ensure Boeing adheres to the terms of the agreement. There was no such requirement in the Boeing deal, unlike some past agreements with other companies.
Boeing could not be reached for comment, and the Justice Department declined to comment.
In January 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion to resolve a criminal investigation into the company’s handling of the crashes. The U.S. plane maker agreed to pay compensation to victims’ relatives and overhaul its compliance practices as part of a deal with prosecutors.
At an earlier April meeting with the family members’ lawyers, Justice Department officials said they were looking into circumstances outlined in the 2021 deal that could cause Boeing to violate the agreement, such as whether the company committed a criminal offense or misled U.S. officials, one of the this was told by people familiar with the situation.
The agreement gives U.S. officials six months from the expiration of the agreement on Jan. 7 to decide whether to prosecute Boeing on charges that it conspired to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration or seek other alternatives to dismissing the case.
Officials plan to do so during that period of time while the investigation into the Jan. 5 in-flight explosion continues, which could influence their decision, one of the sources said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity.
Prosecutors are expected to rely heavily on the findings of the FAA investigations, one of the sources told Reuters.
The FAA, for example, is investigating claims by a Boeing engineer that the company failed to take into account safety and quality issues in the production of its 787 and 777 planes.
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At a congressional hearing last week, the engineer testified that Boeing suspended him when he raised concerns. Reuters has not independently verified his claims, which Boeing has disputed.