Nadia Milleron, whose daughter Samya Stumo died in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, holds a sign with photos of the crash victims during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on aviation safety and the future of the Boeing 737 Max airplane. at the Hart Building in Washington, DC, on October 29, 2019.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | fake images
A federal judge on Thursday rejected boeingThe plea agreement is tied to a charge of criminal fraud stemming from fatal crashes of the manufacturer's 737 Max aircraft.
District Judge Reed O'Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas expressed concern in his decision that the process of selecting a government-appointed monitor, a condition of the plea agreement, would be affected by diversity, equity and inclusion. policies.
He wrote that “in light of the foregoing, the Court is not convinced that the Government will not choose a supervisor without racial considerations and, therefore, will not act in a non-discriminatory manner. In a case of this magnitude, it is of the utmost interest of justice that the public trusts that this selection of monitors is made based solely on their competence.
The Justice Department is reviewing the decision, a spokesperson said. Boeing had no immediate comment.
In October, O'Connor ordered Boeing and the Justice Department to provide details on DEI policies that could affect monitor selection.
The court gave Boeing and the Justice Department 30 days to decide how to proceed, according to a court document filed Thursday.
In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government by misleading regulators about the inclusion of a flight control system on the Max that was later implicated in the two crashes: a Lion Air flight in October 2018. and an Ethiopian Airlines flight in March 2019. All 346 people on the flights died.
Boeing and the Justice Department had no immediate comment.
The victims' families had taken issue with a government-appointed monitor as a condition of the plea deal, which they called a “favorable agreement,” and sought to provide more information about the monitor's selection.
Erin Applebaum, an attorney representing one of the victims' relatives, applauded the settlement. “We anticipate a significant renegotiation of the plea agreement that incorporates terms truly commensurate with the severity of Boeing's crimes,” Applebaum said in a statement. “It is time for the Justice Department to end its lenient treatment of Boeing and demand real accountability.”
The deal was set up to allow Boeing to avoid a test just as it was trying to put the company back on solid footing after a door panel on a 737 Max 9 exploded in midair during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5. .
The new plea deal came after the Justice Department said in May that Boeing violated an earlier plea agreement, which was set to expire days after the door panel incident.
O'Connor said in his decision Thursday that “it is unclear what Boeing has done to violate the Deferred Prosecution Agreement.”
Under the new plea agreement, Boeing would face a fine of up to $487.2 million. However, the Justice Department recommended that the court credit Boeing for half the amount it paid under an earlier settlement, resulting in a $243.6 million fine.
