The criminal fraud process against the American aircraft manufacturer Boeing in the 737 Max file starts on 23 June. That is what the federal judge ran O’Connor in the US state of Texas. A total of 346 people were killed in aircraft crashes with 737 Max 8 devices in 2018 and 2019.
In July, Boeing and the US Department of Justice announced that the agreement within which the aircraft manufacturer would argue for avoiding a criminal proceedings had been finalized. That meant, among other things, that Boeing would pay a fine of $ 487.2 million (451.6 million euros). The relatives of fifteen victims rejected the agreement and asked the judge to do the same.
The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Boeing would like to withdraw the existing agreement.
The judge initially rejected the agreement and sent both parties back to the drawing table. Boeing and the Ministry of Justice were given until 11 April to reach a new agreement. Now the judge scraps Deadline and announces the start date of the trial. He does not explain his reasons for doing that.
Also more recent incidents
Boeing concluded an agreement with the US authorities in January 2021 for an amount of 2.5 billion dollars (2.3 billion euros). Boeing admitted that he had committed fraud and the Ministry of Justice dropped some of the charges.
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But since January 2024 Boeing came under fire again, after various incidents with aircraft. In May 2024 it then became clear that the aircraft manufacturer did not respect the conditions with which he could avoid criminal prosecution. The US Department of Justice then announced the judge that it was investigating the possibility of prosecuting Boeing.