United States: Families of Boeing crash victims make potential final plea for prosecution

Families of some of the 346 people killed in two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jetliners held photos of their dead loved ones Wednesday outside a federal court in Texas, where a judge heard arguments on the US government's motion to dismiss its criminal case against the aerospace company in connection with the twin disasters.

US District Chief Judge Reed O’Connor set aside time for the relatives to speak during the hearing, which lasted about three hours.

Some travelled from countries in Europe and Africa to pursue what might have been their final opportunity to demand that the company face prosecution for the crashes off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia.

“My daughter died on a new airplane that was defective and that was in operation because they weren’t complying with regulations and because of fraud,” said Nadia Milleron, a Massachusetts resident whose 24-year-old daughter, Samya Stumo, was among the 157 passengers and crew members killed in the Ethiopia crash.

“I don’t want any other any other family member to lose their loved ones because of this kind of fraud," she added.

Boeing is charged with conspiracy to defraud the government, a felony. Prosecutors alleged the company deceived Federal Aviation Administration regulators about a flight-control system that was later implicated in the fatal flights, which happened less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019.

The judge said he would issue his decision on dismissal motion at a later date.

Wednesday's hearing in Fort Worth came more than four years after the Justice Department announced it had charged Boeing and reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the aircraft maker.

That deal would have protected Boeing from criminal prosecution if it strengthened its ethics and legal compliance programs, but prosecutors revived the charge last year after deciding the company had violated certain terms of the agreement.

Boeing decided to plead guilty as part of a different agreement that would have avoided a public trial, but O’Connor rejected that deal in December. The judge, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, cited concerns he had over how diversity policies both at the federal government and at Boeing could influence the selection of an independent monitor charged with overseeing the company's promised reforms.

Prosecutors spent months renegotiating with Boeing, and in late May, the two sides struck the latest deal that takes both the criminal charge and Boeing's guilty plea off the table.

In exchange for this non-prosecution agreement, Boeing said it would pay or invest another $1.1 billion in fines, compensation for the crash victims’ families, and internal safety and quality measures.

The Justice Department said it offered those terms in light of “significant changes” Boeing has made to its quality control and anti-fraud programs since last summer.

It said the agreement also served the public interest more effectively than taking the long-running case to trial and risking a jury verdict that might spare the company further punishment.

Some families of victims worry that the pending agreement would allow Boeing to escape justice. Nearly 100 families oppose the agreement and want the judge to appoint a special prosecutor to take over the case.

Justice Department lawyers said the families of 110 crash victims either support resolving the case before it reaches trial or do not oppose the new deal.

The Justice Department has asked the judge to leave open the possibility of refiling the conspiracy charge if the company does not hold up its end of the deal over the next two years.