The US Department of Justice filed the proposed Boeing plea agreement with the federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, on 24 July 2024. Under the status report and proposed plea agreement, Boeing agrees to plead guilty to the sole count in the existing criminal information: conspiracy to defraud the United States, specifically the lawful function of the Federal Aviation Administration Aircraft Evaluation Group, in connection with the 737 MAX.
The charge dates back to the deferred prosecution agreement of January 2021. Prosecutors determined that Boeing breached that agreement by failing to sufficiently design, implement and enforce a compliance and ethics programme to prevent and detect violations of US fraud laws across its operations.
What the Boeing plea agreement provides
- Fine: the parties agree the court should impose the statutory maximum of $487,200,000, crediting $243,600,000 already paid under the 2021 agreement, leaving $243,600,000 to pay.
- Probation: a three-year term of organisational probation.
- Monitor: Boeing must retain an independent compliance monitor, selected by the government following a public request for proposals, who will file an executive summary of each annual report on the public docket.
- Investment: at least $455,000,000 in compliance, quality and safety programmes over the probation term.
- Families: Boeing's board must meet the families of the victims of the Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashes, if they wish, within four months of sentencing.
Restitution is discretionary and will be decided by the court. The agreement gives no immunity for other conduct, including matters under any ongoing or future investigation.
What happens next
The Boeing plea agreement is proposed under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(C), so it binds the court only if the judge accepts it. Under the court's scheduling order of 15 July 2024, the victims' families and any other person claiming crime victim status have seven calendar days from the filing to ask the court not to accept the agreement. The government and Boeing then have 14 days to respond, followed by a five-day window for replies. The court has postponed setting a trial schedule while it reviews the briefing.
For the aviation sector, the filing marks a shift from deferred prosecution to a criminal conviction with external monitoring, a structure that suppliers, lessors and airline customers will follow closely.
