US Prosecutors To Meet Boeing, Family Members Of Crash Victims As Deadline For Criminal Charges Looms: Report

The federal prosecutors are also scheduled to meet up with the family members of the victims on Sunday to share updates regarding the investigation’s progress, the report said citing a source

US prosecutors are reportedly meeting with Boeing and the airline’s fatal crash victims’ relatives as the deadline of July 7 approaches when the Justice Department has to decide whether to levy criminal charges on the aircraft manufacturer, media reports said.

According to a report by Reuters citing people in the know, the officials from the Justice Department met with the company’s lawyers on Thursday to discuss the official findings that the planemaker violated a 2021 agreement with the department.

The deal, termed as a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), protected the firm from criminal prosecution regarding the two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. These crashes resulted in the death of 346 people.

The federal prosecutors are also scheduled to meet up with the family members of the victims on Sunday to share updates regarding the investigation’s progress, the report said citing a source.

An email sent by the DOJ revealed that the US officials are working on a ‘tight timeline’, the report stated. In the last meeting with the Justice Department, the planemaker’s lawyers presented their case to the Deputy Attorney General’s office’s officials and urged that there is no need of ignoring the 2021 deal, the report said.

The government officials however want to get inputs from the family members of the victims as they look into how to go ahead with process. The Sunday meeting is expected to be attended by prosecutors from the Justice Department’s criminal fraud division and the US attorney’s office in Dallas.

These kind of appeals from firms are typical when negotiations continue regarding a government investigation.

Earlier, Boeing noted that it ‘honoured the terms’ of the settlement and officially told prosecutors that it didn’t agree with the finding that it violated the agreement. The government prosecutors have also urged the senior officials in the Justice Department to levy criminal charges on the planemaker after finding the company in violation of the 2021 settlement, the report noted.