Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges relating
to two fatal crashes of its 737 max jets.
That's according to a court filing by the US government
late Sunday. If approved by a federal judge,
the plea would brand the plane maker, a convicted
felon. It will have to pay a fine of
over$243 million and invest more in improving safety.
The charges flow from the fatal crashes in 2018 and
2019 which killed 346 people. They were later traced
to a design floor in the jets which has since
been fixed. Boeing subsequently struck a deal with the
justice department deferring any prosecution in return for compensating victims
families and improving its compliance. However, officials this
year concluded that the firm had not complied with all
terms of the deal. Boeing's position wasn't helped by
the mid air blowout on another max plane earlier this
year which raised new concerns about its quality control.
It faces a separate criminal probe over that incident.
Now the deal sees the firm admit to making false
representations over a software system involved in the fatal crashes
. It spares the company a contentious trial but could
result in other big costs. The conviction could bar
Boeing from lucrative defense and contracts unless it can agree 00:01:25.000 --> waivers.