WASHINGTON — Attorney Paul Cassell, representing families of victims from the two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia between 2018 and 2019, has urged the U.S. Justice Department to reject a proposed settlement with Boeing and instead pursue a criminal fraud trial.
Cassell argued that the proposal, which would allow Boeing to avoid a trial or guilty plea and hire its own compliance consultant instead of an independent monitor, constitutes a miscarriage of justice. He emphasized that Judge Reed O’Connor had labeled the situation the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history, and noted that Boeing’s CEO had already admitted to the essential facts of the case, making acquittal unlikely.
The tentative agreement includes Boeing pleading guilty and paying an additional $444.5 million to victims’ families, on top of earlier payments totaling $500 million and a potential fine of up to $487.2 million. The deal would also prevent the planemaker from being officially labeled a convicted felon and would halt a scheduled June 23 trial related to misleading the FAA about the 737 MAX’s flight control system. Boeing and the Justice Department have not commented on the matter.
In 2021, Boeing agreed to a $2.5 billion settlement to resolve criminal charges stemming from the crashes. However, the company was later found to have violated that agreement, leading to renewed legal proceedings. The proposed settlement now under consideration aims to resolve the case without a trial, but it has faced criticism from victims’ families and legal experts who argue that it fails to hold Boeing fully accountable for its actions.
The Justice Department is expected to make a final decision on the proposed settlement in the coming weeks, with the trial scheduled to begin on June 23 if the agreement is not finalized.